


My Jack would not hate Easter...

by Psychological_Chocolate



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Abusive Relationship, Abusive!Jack, BlackIce, Dark!Jack, Gay Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Jack is a Little Shit, Jack seems to be broken, M/M, Mental Instability, No Jack just stop, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Pitch Black Has Feelings, Pitch Black Needs a Hug, Pitch is suppose to be the bad guy not you Jack, Protective Pitch Black, Romance, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2018-04-15 01:04:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4587144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psychological_Chocolate/pseuds/Psychological_Chocolate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set years after the movie in a time when Jack and Pitch are now a couple and live together in the Boogieman's lair.<br/>Because of this Jack is no longer a Guardian and his bonds with the Guardians are fading slowly, making the boy turn to a slightly darker side of thinking thanks to these feelings of abandonment and the fact he is so often around the Nightmare king. But who said Pitch ever wanted Jack to change?<br/>It was Easter when they all realised just how much Jack was breaking down, just how dangerous he could be,<br/>and just how much he meant to Pitch...</p><p>-To be continued (this is now finished but will be continued in 2 other parts).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Pitch paced back and forth in front of his globe, irritated and unsure of what to do.  
He saw a flash of white and blue in the corner of his eye as Jack entered through a tunnel on one of the higher levels and floated down, landing beside Pitch. Acting no differently than before, as the reason to his worry and pondering stood staring beside him, not even greeting Jack, the older man continued to pace about, clearly deep in thought.  
Jack was hesitant to talk with the way his lover was acting, and so stood still watching him for a minute before losing patience.

"Hey, Pitch." No answer.  
"Pitch?" Still nothing...  
" _Piiiitch_ ~"

"Not now Jack, I'm busy." The Boogieman waved his hand dismissively.

"I just wanted t-"

"I said _not now_!" He turned quickly on his heals, facing Jack. The boy's eyes widened and he froze from the unexpectedly harsh reaction, but he quickly regained his composure. Walking up to Pitch he grabbed hold of his collar, pulling him down to his level.

"Dick! I just wanted to know if you were planning something for the day after tomorrow, for _Easter_!" Pitch stared down at him for a moment before answering.

"Easter?"

"Yes!" Jack harshly let go of the man's clothing, looking up at him from under dark eyelashes. Were his eyelashes always so... dark?  
"You dumb ass, I just wanted to know if you've planed anything... you know, to ruin it."  
His eyes too... were they always such a deep blue?

"No... Not particularly... Why?"

"Well I just thought you would have. Thought it would be _fun_ to mess with that damn kangaroo's Easter a little, you know?" Jack chuckled, a smirk growing on his lips. But that laugh wasn't the laugh that Pitch knew and loved. That smirk wasn't the innocent cheeky grin he'd come to adore.  
It was all too dark for Jack.  
Pitch stared down at him with a frown, his fists clenched at his sides.  
"What? Don't want to have a little fun with me? Or..." He got closer, putting his hand on Pitch's chest, stroking his fingers around it.  
Such quick changes of emotions...  
"Is there another kind of _fun_ you want to have with me first? _hmm_ ~?" Jack's anger had gone and he looked up at Pitch seductively.  
That's when Pitch cracked.

"That's it!" He slapped Jack's hand away.

"P-Pitch..?" Pitch's eyes were full of anger, this time sending fear through the younger's body.  
"What... What's wrong with you?"

"Shut your mouth!" Jack took a step back, but Pitch took a step forward.

"Why are you angry?! I thought you'd love to Ruin Easter with me!" He tried to seems as if he was not afraid and stood up straighter, gaze hardening again.  
"You _did_ always want me to join you, right?! Too spread fear with you?!"

"I said shut your mouth!" Pitch slapped Jack's face hard with the back of his hand, sending him flying to the floor with a surprised and pained yelp. Jack hit the ground with a thud, banging the side of his head in to the hard stone floor. Pitch regretted his action the moment the pained sound had left Jack's lips. He quickly moved over and kneeled beside his head.

"Jack!" the boy moaned but only moved his left arm slightly, reaching for his staff that had fallen out of his grip, wanting to protect himself. Pitch stopped him, pulling his hand back and sitting him up. If Jack had gotten a grip on his staff, he would have hit Pitch with it to get away, before trying to harm him more by shooting ice his way. Pitch would have been forced to defend himself, and they would have fought and harmed each other... Again. Just like they had already done times before. Not wanting them to fight anymore, Pitch pulled him in to his lap, holding the boy's wrists, making sure he couldn't get away.  
"Jack... I..." Jack's face was full of fear when he quickly looked up at Pitch, before turning his attention back to his staff that now lay further away.

"Please..."

"... Y-yes..?"

"Please don't hurt me... Please, I'm sorry..!" That's when Pitch noticed the tears that began to role down Jack's face, and over the small gash that now lay across his right cheek bone, surrounded by bruising flesh. He Pulled him closer, holding him in a tight but gentle embrace.

"Oh Jack, I'm sorry, forgive me my love I did not mean for this..."

"P-please don't hurt me.." Jack's voice was trembling and quiet as fear kept him still in the warm hold.

"Shh, I'm not going to harm you, it's okay, it's okay..." Pitch cooed in his ear, trying to calm him down.  
"I'm so sorry Jack. I'm stressed, I lost my temper; please forgive me..." Jack whimpered and shook, and Pitch could not forgive himself for losing his temper so easily; it was as if he had had no control over it...  
It was his own fault that Jack was becoming like this. He had to fix it. He couldn't lose him. He couldn't lose _his_ Jack who was innocent, kind and loving; who loved to have fun and laugh and pull harmless pranks; to the same darkness that had pulled Pitch himself down centuries ago.

Pitch sat there for who knows how long, cradling Jack's still crying form tightly in his arms, rocking him slightly as he hushed him until he eventually fell asleep.  
When he did, Pitch stood up, holding the boy bridal style he melted in to the shadows and reappeared in their bed chamber. He gently took Jack's hoodie off and placed him under the covers of their bed. Reaching in to the shadows underneath the bed, he pulled out the boy's staff and leaned it against the bed-side table so that Jack wouldn't worry where it was when he woke up.  
Sitting down on the side of the mattress beside his beautiful lover, he stroked the sleeping boy's snow white hair as he examined the cut and bruising on his face, before kissing his forehead and disappearing in to the dark once again.


	2. Uncommon trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pitch has a little chat with the Guardians.  
> And later he has a little chat with his broken lover; amongst other things.

Ever since Pitch had advanced on Jack, ever since Jack had accepted those advances, they saw each other more and more, they got to know each other better than they knew anyone else.  
They were happy together.  
But...  
One day, the other Guardians found out.  
He wasn't sure how they found out, but he guessed the moon must have had something to do with it.  
  
One day, he and Jack were Kissing, half naked on Pitch's bed, Jack sprawled across Pitch as they lazed about, just gently touching, holding each other. And the door slammed open. And the Guardians came in. Their eyes wide, obviously shocked that what they had found out, most likely from the man in the moon, was true.  
Disgust, betrayal, anger. They reeked of those emotions.

From that point on, Jack was no longer a Guardian.

From that point on, Jack began to change; he began to change for the worst. Far worse than any of them could have imagined.  
Pitch could not take this anymore; he would do _anything_ to keep Jack safe.  
_Anything_ to keep Jack as _his_ Jack...

* * *

North was in the Workshop at the North Pole, in his little work room at his desk with his back to the door, working on an ice sculpture of a new toy idea as he munched on Christmas cookies.  
Behind him, a shadow grew from a corner in the room.

"It's time we all had a little chat, you lot and I..." North spun around, dropping a half eaten cookie in the process. The wall of his office that held the exit was covered in shadow.

"Pitch?! Why... what are you up to?!" Before another word could be said, the shadow rapidly reduced to the centre of the wall and through the keyhole of the door. North stood still for a couple of seconds, eyes wide, unsure of what was going on. Running to the door he yanked it open and, with no sign of Pitch, called the Yetis to his side.

The moment that Pitch had left the office he'd reappeared just outside of the globe room.  
Hiding himself, he created distractions using his Nightmares and shadows to void the large room of any occupants. The only ones he wanted to see being the _big four_.  
Standing in front of the globe as it spun steadily, memories of their past battle returning, he sighed.  
There wasn't an Elf or Yeti in sight as he checked around himself. Nor had a single Guardian appeared yet. Glancing at the control panel in front of himself, he saw the switch that was used to turn on the Aurora Borealis; the Northern lights that summoned the Guardians together in dire times.

"Hmm... That should work." He reached out to it, holding the handle tightly he turned it counter-clockwise before pushing it down. Colourful light shot up and around the globe, heading to the winter sky above. Smirking, he backed away and hid back in to the shadows.

North was about to leave his office again after having retuned to grab his swords, when he saw the Northern lights shoot across the sky through his window.

"What?!" He only stared outside for a couple of seconds before running down to his globe room, looking around frantically. Pitch was in his home, _again_. And the Northern lights had been turned on without his permission. It was a bit too much of a coincidence for him not to think it was Pitch's doing. But why on earth would Pitch want the Guardians to gather together? What was Pitch doing here? He'd just said only a moment ago about them needing to _chat..._ Thoughts off what the dark man could be up to ran a race in his brain. Perhaps it was some sort of trap? A way off getting them all in one place so they were out of the way of something? What if something had happened to Jack?  
Though they highly disapproved of Pitch and Jack's _... relationship_ , they had not had a single problem from Pitch since they had started... whatever it was they actually had. North had tried to see the bright side, thinking perhaps Jack could be a good influence on the Nightmare King, or at least keep him out of trouble. But it seemed that perhaps this was not the case...

* * *

Approximately 10 minutes prior:

* * *

Sandman was lazing around on his golden cloud of dream sand as he flouted above a sleeping city, having just finished sending everyone in to their most loved dreams.  
The night was clouded and dark, but the Black sand above him still managed to show itself despite this as it glimmered slightly in an unknown, seemingly non existent light source. Sandy's eyes widened and he jumped to his feet from his lay down position as he saw it curl above him, turning in to a completely black, apart from silver eyes which gleamed with gold, version of Pitch sat upon a Nightmare. Sandy created his golden whip out of his own sand and was ready to fight, but the silhouette-like Pitch flew away, up in to the dark clouds. Sandy shot upwards after him.  
The small dream bringer had tried to follow, unsure of what Pitch was doing there. But he lost him nearly straight away.  
After looking around the sky for a couple of minutes to no avail, feeling something was at foot, he decided to check on the citizens of the city bellow to see if Pitch had worked his _magic_ and destroyed the dreams he had created...

* * *

Bunnymund was in his warren, finishing his preparations for Easter which would begin in only a couple of days.  
So far everything had run smoothly and he was currently adding his own special touch to some last minute eggs. He held his delicate thin brush steadily in one paw as he added some finishing touches to the egg he was currently working on, when he saw something in the corner of his vision. Turning his head he saw nothing, so brushing it off as a trick of the eye, turned his attention back to his work. Looking back down at the egg he noticed a dark shadow was cast over the grass at his paws. A Shadow that did not belong to him. Turning quickly, accidentally dropping the egg in his surprise and fear, he saw the distinct dark silhouette of non other than Pitch Black cast up against a wall of rock. Dropping the brush as well, he pulled out his boomerangs and took a defensive pose. Before he could shout out and tell Pitch to show himself, the silhouette of the feared man turned and walked across and around the rock, disappearing completely when he got to the shadow on the other side.  
After that Bunny searched all over, but there was no sign of Pitch, his Nightmares, or any form of chaos anywhere in the warren. Walking back to where he had previously been crouched when painting the eggs, Bunny looked down at the now broken egg on the ground, a look of pure hatred on his face aimed at the reason it had broken in the first place; a growl escaping through bared teeth.  
He taped his paw twice hard on the bright grassy ground, and jumped down the rabbit hole that appeared before him.

* * *

Tooth was floating about her palace, giving orders here and there to her little fairy workers, when all of a sudden everything seemed to become darker. Looking up, she could see that clouds had appeared outside, blocking some sunlight from entering the palace. It was only when she looked a little closer at the bizarre and quickly appearing clouds outside that she noticed them condensing in to darker masses that seemed to sparkle with a bluish purple light. Those were no normal clouds. Her eyes widened and hundreds of scared squeaking sounds began to echo of the walls of the Tooth palace as the small fairies noticed as well, two bright glowing eyes appearing and shining down at them through the now thick black cloud of Nightmare sand. Just as quickly as they had appeared the eyes disappeared and the cloud of sand began to thin. Pitch's shadow appeared from it on the walls of the palace and moved around until he had gone a full circle and disappeared all together, the bright sunlight once again shining down in to the palace. Heart beating fast, she ordered the fairies to check every nook and cranny, every tooth box, and to check for any sign of damage or the smallest grain of black sand.  
After five minutes and still nothing out of the ordinary, she flew outside and looked around in confusion and fear. Looking up to the sky she could see the moon shining down but no words were spoken. And then the sky suddenly filled with the beautiful colours that to them meant danger.

"The northern lights..!"

* * *

Standing in front of the globe, North looked around, his swords clenched in tight fists at his sides. He could swear he saw a shadow move in the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look it's way nothing happened. Eyeing the dark corner suspiciously, he was about to belt out a loud warning when the ground suddenly began to crumble beside him, making him jump back a little in surprise. He sighed in relief when he realised it was Bunnymund's tunnel as the large rabbit Jumped through.

"North!"

"Ah, Bunny, you scare me..!"

"Sorry mate, but there's more at stake here than etiquette."

"What is wrong?" North asked, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

"It's Pitch, I saw the stupid bastard in me warren!"

"...What did he do?"

"He... Well, not much... I mean, he sorta showed 'imself, but, that's it. Not a word, not nothin'. But I don't trust im! Pretty suspicious if ya ask me. He must be up ta somethin! With it bein so close ta Easter en all..!"

"Hmm..." Before North could say more, Toothiana flew in so fast she nearly crashed in to the other two Guardians.

"I saw the lights! What's happened?! is it Pitch?! What about Jack? Is he okay?! What's going on?!" North grabbed a hold of her shoulders, keeping her from hovering all over the place as she panicked.

"Toothy; Tooth! Calm down!"

"It is Pitch, isn't it? I saw him, he was at the palace..!" Bunny's ears perked up.

"You too?"

"... Was he at the Warren?"

"Yeah..." Then Sandy flew in; landing by Bunnymund, he tugged at the large rabbit's fur.  
"Ah, Sandy!" Images appeared and disappeared above the shorter man's head at speed that barely left time to see the shapes.

"Sandy, Slow down!" North said, raising his hands in front of himself, moving them in a sort of 'slow down' motion. Sandy took a deep breath, before pointing up above his head as Pitch's face appeared in the golden sand.

"You too... It seems Pitch has shown himself to all of us..."

"You've seen him too?"

"Yes, Toothianna. In office. And is not all." North looked back over at the shadow he had eyed suspiciously before, his sabres still ready at his sides.  
"Was not me who sent signal with northern lights..."

"Then... Who?"

"I have sure clue... But does not make sense..." Then, out of the darkness they heard a terribly familiar voice that echoed around the walls.

"Just because you do not understand something, does not mean it makes no sense. It can simply mean you need to pay attention and understand..." Pitch stepped out from the dark corner where he had been hidden, opposite to the one North had been looking at, making them jump slightly. He stood tall with his hands folded behind his back.  
"Yes, it was I who called you all here. And the reason, is Jack..."

"Pitch! What have you done?!" Bunny took a few steps forward, ready to attack.

"Who said _I_ have done _anything_?" Thouthiana hovered beside Bunnymund, eyes as slits as she glared at Pitch.

"If you've hurt Jack in anyway I'll..."

"You'll what, bird?! What could the likes of _you_ possibly do to _me_? You are all aware that my powers have grown and yours diminished since you through Jack away like a broken toy!" They all cringed at that, the grips on their drawn weapons tightening.  
"In fact, that is why I am here... It is not about what I have done but rather what _you_ have done. And what I, what _Jack_ , needs you to do." The Guardians in front of him looked slightly shocked, but still kept their stances ready to attack him; the only reason they had not yet done so being the man's relationship with Jack. Pitch continued speaking in a voice that made him sound as if he was already board of the others and running out of patience.  
"I would appreciate it if you were all to at least listen to what I have to say before you try anything..."

"And how do we know that you're not up to something as we speak, and that this is not to keep us out of way until you finish whatever is you're up to?!" North boomed. Pitch through his arms up in annoyance.

" _Oh please_! This is _important_! I don't have time for your guessing games! This is about Jack; you should know by now how much the boy means to me." He let his arms fall to his sides, taking a deep breath and sighing as he tried to keep calm.  
"I would not use him in any plan." They all fell silent for a minute before Tooth broke the silence.

"What's wrong with him? Is he hurt?"

"Tooth, we can't just trust im like that!"

"Shut your snout rabbit! Just listen to me and then decide if you're going to try and kill me!" The Guardians looked between each other, thinking and speaking through silent looks, before North spoke again.

"... Okay Pitch... We listen."

"But North!-"

"Bunny, we can listen to what he has to say, if it's about Jack. Come, we shall all take seat..." Following North they all went to sit in front of the fireplace, the Yetis having seemingly just appeared to place five chairs there for them. Waiting for the others to sit down first, Pitch cautiously sat down on the chair furthest from the fire. Though he wasn't as prone to heat as Jack, being around the frost spirit had made him more use to the cold and he preferred it to warmth. Were as the others would be shivering outside in the harsh northern air, he would be comfortable. He never was one for warm places to begin with, but now it was far more uncomfortable for him.  
He began to wonder if this was really a good idea... What if they tried to take Jack away from him..? What if they succeeded? No; he would _never_ let that happen.  
Looking to his sides he saw that all eyes were now fixed on him, bringing him out of his thoughts. Hands now folded in his lap, he cleared his throat.

"Right, well... I suppose I shall begin." North nodded, waiting for his explanation.  
"First of all, I would like to state whilst I have the opportunity, that my and Jack's relationship was never something I began for the purpose of any form of... _evil_. It was never some sort of plan to harm him or you or anyone else." Bunny scoffed, crossing his arms and looking away. Pitch narrowed his gaze at him.  
"No matter what _you_ may _think_ , I do care very much for him and have done since the beginning. But before, before any of you knew about us, Jack was... Well-"

"Hurry up we don't have all day!"

"Bunny!" North scolded.

"If you don't shut your trap cotton tail then I'm going to shut it for you!"

"Pitch!" North sighed.  
" _Please_ , calm down; continue..."

"... Yes well, as I was _trying_ to say... He was the happy usual spring-loaded childish joker we all know. Full of energy, always smiling apart from the times he was pouting because he wanted something." Pitch smiled to himself as he thought about Jack. The Jack he adored.  
"But when you all found out about our relationship, everything changed for him. He never admitted it, but he can't hide anything from me, so I could tell he felt abandoned..." He paused looking around, watching their reactions to his words closely.  
"At first it was not too bad... But time went on, and Jack became quieter, he began to... _change_. And I admit I did not help the situation much; I was not patient enough with him, and I lost my temper a little too often. And..." Pitch closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed through it, annoyed at himself.  
"And by the time I realised what exactly was happening, it had gone to far, and that is why I am here. Because the truth is you can help him more than I can now. I need you all to speak with him; to continue to speak to him. Take away the feelings of abandonment that are haunting him. He's become depressed and lost. You are the first family he had had after three hundred years of underserved solitude, and you have practically disowned him." He paused again to see their faces. They looked angry; and sad.  
"He's become... _darker_. Recently he's even stopped going to play with the human children he adores so much... He's now only ever around me and in the dark and I know that's not good for him. His mental state is not what it once was and this new... well, his mental instability is beginning to... _scare me_. He needs all of us, no matter how much I despise it, it is a fact." Bunny, surprisingly calm, was the next to speak.

"But... what do you _mean_ he's become darker?"

"...I'm not sure that, you in particular, would like to know..."

"What's that suppose ta mean?"

"Well I suppose I _should_ tell you..." Pitch leaned his chin on folded hands, looking rather thoughtful.  
"He wanted us both to ruin Easter, as if it would be a _fun little family outing._ "

"What?!"

"Before you come to any ignorant conclusions, let me just state I had no plan or want to do such a thing. It was him alone who came up with the idea, calling it fun to ruin your precious little holiday. I don't want Jack to change, I don't want him to become like me; but it seems that that is what is happening, if not something more worrisome. I'm worried that if this continues, that the darkness that took a hold of my own soul will grasp on to Jack's and turn him in to something he is not. I don't care if you do not believe me, but I love him. I will do _anything_ to keep him safe, even if it means coming to you for help... _But,_ I refuse to leave him, if that is what you tell me to do I will _never_ do it. Know that now and let me not need to repeat it." Pitch stared at them, waiting for their response. After a minute of silence North sighed and spoke.

"Bring him here, tomorrow morning when clock strikes ten. We all will meet here then, and... we will talk." Sandman nodded in agreement to North's decision, as Tooth looked not so sure and Bunny voiced his concern.

"But North, can we really just trust im like that? I know it's for Jack, but..."

" _Yes_ , is for Jack. If he is truly in need of our help, then we shall help him. We _did_ abandon him once... and we shall not do it again when he needs us and is our own fault he needs help in first place. Now is time to make things right once again." Bunny was about to speak again but North raised a hand to stop him.  
"Decision is final. We will all meet here tomorrow morning at ten. Is that understood?" He looked over to Pitch who nodded, all emotion that was once on his face replaced with a flat expression that said nothing.  
"Good. Now, if you don't mind, I would like if you leave my home now." He said, eyes fixed on Pitch who stared back.

"Fine." He stood quickly and turned, ready to leave.

"Wait!" Tooth stood from her seat next to Bunny and all eyes apart from Pitch's turned to her.  
"Why did you come to all of us in our homes, if you were just going to set off the lights that would call us here..? Why not _only_ set off the lights?" The other Guardians nodded, wondering the same thing now that she had brought it up, looking at Pitch suspiciously as if he had planted traps in their homes. Pitch slowly turned his head to look their way.

"Well, I thought perhaps it would be harder to access the switch. But obviously not." He smirked and received a stern look from North.  
"Because of this, at first I wasn't even going to set them of, thinking my noticed presence would do to bring you all here together; and it did straight away for two of you. But while the other two of you had yet to decide to come here, I saw the switch, and realised it would work more quickly, and voila... I admit, perhaps I _should_ have merely tried to set off the Northern lights from the beginning, but that does not matter now. Besides, I also preferred to check you would all come straight away while Jack is still _out off the way_. I did not want him following me, or the lights, or any of you if he saw you. I obviously needed to speak to you all about this alone after all."

"Wait... Out of the way? What did you do to him?!"

"Oh calm down would you?! Jack is merely sleeping."

"Oh sa that's what ya did?! Ya perverted bastard..!"

"What?" Pitch sighed, and turned properly towards them.  
" _You_ are the perverted one to think about such things. And that aspect of our lives is nothing to do with any of you. It's not even because of anything of the sort. Jack and I had a small... _row_. And Jack is merely sleeping off his stress. Now, I thought you wanted me to leave? Or are there more things you wish to accuse me of? Perhaps for having brainwashed him in to loving me, even if I have never possessed such powers? Or maybe something worse that I had no idea I had done?" North sighed and stood.

"This is enough for today. We shall talk tomorrow." Pitch nodded and turned once more, this time continuing forward, practically fuming and disappearing in to the first shadow he came across that was dark enough. The Sandman tugged at North's pant leg and flashed golden images above his head, ending in a question mark.  
"Don't you worry, Sandy my friend. If what Pitch says is truth, then we must do something; and I have good plan to help Jack. We will not let him suffer anymore..."

* * *

Jack had woken up by now, and was sat up in bed when Pitch appeared from a dark corner in their bedroom.

"Hey, Pitch." Pitch gave a small smile and walked over to him. He sat down on the side of the bed and reached a hand over to cup Jack's cheek. His smile grew a fraction when Jack didn't flinch but instead smiled back. But it was small and his eyes held a look that betrayed his true painful emotions. Pitch sighed and leaned down to kiss his forehead, before resting his own on Jack's.

"Do you forgive me for hurting you before..?"

"Yeah..." Pitch ran his thumb over the dark bruise on Jack's cheek, being careful to avoid the healing cut, and frowned at the contrast of colour.

"I'm sorry..."

"I know. I'm sorry too..."

"It's all right my dear." Jack pulled back and looked Pitch in the eyes.

"Where did you go?"

"Hmm?"

"You're normally with me when I wake up. I was worried you were really angry and weren't going to come back for a while." Pitch frowned and Jack looked away, thinking he was angry at him. But Pitch was only angry with himself as he thought about the one time he _had_ left Jack alone; too alone for too long a while. He had hoped that was forgotten, but obviously the scar was still fresh in the boy's mind. That time when Jack had angered Pitch, and the older man had done things he now regretted and could never forgive himself for having done.

"Oh Jack..." He put a hand on each of the boy's cheeks and turned his head till Jack was looking back up at him again.  
"I _had_ promised you, had I not? I will never, _never_ do that to you ever again. My beautiful boy you do not deserve it no matter what." He pulled Jack in to an embrace who slowly wrapped his arms around Pitch in return, practically digging his nails in as he held on tightly to his older lover.

"I love you Pitch. I love you so much..." Pitch nuzzled into the boy's snowy hair and breathed his sent, sighing.

"I love you too Jack, more than anything. I am the luckiest creature in this world and any other to have you beside me."

"You really think that?"

"Of course I do." Jack pulled back again, placing his arms around Pitch's neck.

"Thank you..." He leaned in and kissed Pitch gently on the lips, the older man kissed back eagerly, pushing his tongue in to Jack's mouth, making him moan. Pitch gently pushed him down in to the covers, hands roaming the boy's naked pale chest. Pulling away from the kiss, he watched as Jack squirmed under his touch.  
"P-Pitch..." The Nightmare King kept one hand on Jack's chest, playing with his nipples as the other went south to scratch lightly at the bulge growing in the boy's pants. Jack gasped.  
"D-don't tease me... just do it..! Please... Fuck me, Pitch; fuck me." Pitch stopped moving his hands and stared at Jack. He couldn't get angry at him for being so vulgar and perverted and addicted; he was the one that had turned Jack in to this. He was the one who had made him want to, _need to_ , be dominated and filled up and forced in to the mattress. _He_ was the one who had destroyed the boy's innocence. He, from being so needy and insistent and possessive, was the one who had made him change like this; even if not on purpose, this was part of what was making him darker. Even if the Guardians were also to blame for him changing and becoming so ominously sombre for such a happy child like creature, it was Pitch and only Pitch that had made him crave to be touched, to be rammed into until he fainted.

"Turn over." Jack quickly obliged. Kneeling in front of Pitch, his head pressed in to the cushion that his fists were holding on to tightly, his ass up in the air and legs slightly spread. Pitch tugged down his pants, leaving them at his knees and then... sat still. He watched Jack, stared at his naked turned on body, listened to his whimpering as he waited for the touches and the biting and to be filled. But it didn't come, and so he turned his head to look at Pitch wantonly.

"Please... Why aren't you doing anything? I need you Pitch, _please hurry!_ " Pitch didn't understand, couldn't remember how he broke him so easily.

"We did it barely a day ago to the point that you had fainted... You came three times. Why do you need it so desperately now?" He wanted to understand, wanted to try and know every reason for everything the boy wanted and did. Maybe if he understood everything better he could help reverse the damage that had already been done...

"Because I need you."

"But why so suddenly? I barely touched you and look at yourself. Arse in the air and begging to be taken. Your dick is hard to the point it looks painful." He reached his hand underneath Jack and poked at his tip making him gasp once more.  
"Your so sensitive..."

"I... I'm sorry..!" Pitch sighed and, kneeling behind him he stroked his hands over Jack's body teasingly. Leaning over him he whispered in his ear.

"...We're going to do things a little differently tonight." Shivers ran down Jack's spine at the words. Pitch pulled the trembling boy's pants from around his knees and threw them to the floor. He sat back up and removed his own clothing before laying down next to Jack, who watched him closely with eyes full of lust.  
"Sit up." Jack did as he was told, slowly sitting up, cheeks flushed.  
"Come here." Pitch grabbed his hips and pulled him over so Jack was straddling his lap. Jack tried to lift himself up and move to place himself in the right place over Pitch's arousal, so as to penetrate himself with it, but Pitch stopped him, holding his hips tightly in place.  
"No."

"Wha... But-"

"I said no." Jack's eyes widened.  
"Besides, I'm not fucking you dry." He didn't understand why Pitch was doing this and he just needed it already! He didn't care if he hadn't been prepared, he had done it enough times before; he knew he could take it. Pitch was right when he said his dick looked like it was hard to the point of being painful, because it was and he just wanted to be touched and filled by Pitch already and it was driving him insane. But Pitch was also right about Jack being sensitive and already needing it so badly, when not long ago they did it so brutally that Jack had passed out. With all of this and what had happened not long before, Jack was confused and needy and tears began to sting the corners of his eyes.  
"It's okay Jack, don't cry..." Pitch shushed him and moved one hand up to wipe at the boy's left cheek when a tear began to fall.  
"Now I want you to listen carefully to me, all right?" Jack nodded slowly, his face showing his pain.  
"We're going to go slowly, and not rush through it madly. I want to _feel_ you and I want you to _feel me._ I want it to be like it was before... Not just some mad lust that means near to nothing." Jack's face softened and he opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing and closed it again. Leaning down over Pitch despite his arousal being pressed painfully between their bodies, he wrapped his arms back around Pitch's neck and hugged him tightly.

"I understand now. I'm sorry..." He knew he shouldn't cry, but the tears fell anyway, dampening Pitch's hair.

"Don't apologise so much, Jack. it's okay." Pitch began to move his hands, ghosting them over the most sensitive areas of Jack's skin, making him gasp sharply.  
They touched each other all over, slowly and gently. Nipping and licking. And when Jack was properly prepared, Pitch let him move above him. The room became filled with moans, the sound of skin on skin and the calling of names.  
Once both had come to their climax they fell asleep, their limbs entangled with each others, more satisfied than they had been in a while.

When Jack woke up, it took him a minute to realise his head was in the lap of his lover who was stroking his hair. Slowly he turned to look up at him.

"Awake I see."

"Hey." Jack said, blinking away the sleep in his eyes as he tried to focus. Pitch leaned down and kissed his nose.

"Hey to you too." Jack giggled and pulled him down for a proper kiss.

"It felt really great, by the way." He said as he played with a stray strand of Pitch's raven hair.

"I agree." Pitch smiled down at him as he stroked his face.

"Even if it was really hard to hold back and have to go through all that teasing." Jack said with a hint of sarcasm as he pouted playfully, making Pitch laugh. He adored when Jack was like this. When Jack was... his _Jack_.

"I really do love you my darling, never forget that." Jack's eyes widened.

"Why would I forget? I'll never forget you Pitch, never. And I'll never forget that you love me back just as much as I love you..." Jack frowned and Pitch did the same.  
"What's wrong?" Jack sat up and moved to be beside him.  
"These things you say sometimes, the sex just before... though it _was_ great... something's wrong, isn't it?" Pitch didn't answer, at first he just looked down at his lap.  
"...Pitch?"

"I want you to come with me somewhere."

"...okay? Where?"

"The... The North Pole." Jack was shocked and didn't know what to say. The only reason he could think of that would make Pitch want to go _there_ would be to harm the Guardians in some way.  
"I want you to go with me, to the North Pole, and speak with the Guardians." Pitch lifted his gaze and turned to look in to Jack's shocked eyes.

"Wha... Why? I don't understand... Why would you want me to do that? Do you have some kind of plan? Because I'm not sure I'd want to help with it..." Pitch smiled, making Jack even more confused.

"In a way. But it's not the kind of plan made to harm... I promise you that."

"Then... what is this plan exactly?" Jack looked sceptically at Pitch, trying to look for signs of what he could be up to.

"All you need to do is speak to them and listen to them Jack, that's all I ask of you. Can you do that for me?"

"erm... I..."

"You trust me, don't you?"

"Yeah, of course." Pitch's brow lifted as he waited for a proper answer and Jack sighed, hoping he wasn't making some bad mistake.  
"Okay... I'll do it."

"There's my boy." Pitch kissed his forehead before getting out of bed.  
"Now let's clean up and dress; we must leave soon." Jack sighed again and followed his naked lover out of their bed, then following him out of the room to head for their 'natural spring'-like bath in the makeshift bathroom of Pitch's lair.  
Or rather, of _their_ lair. It was their lair after all; Pitch had told him that all that was his was now Jack's as well.  
Jack trusted Pitch; he trusted him with his own life, he really did. And as he thought of this, all doubt washed away with the water of their bath, and Jack began to feel happier. Maybe this would be nice? He did like the idea of speaking to them all again, as long as it wasn't to try and convince him that he should leave the one he loved. He also liked the idea of them getting along with Pitch. If they couldn't do, then why would they allow them all to meet like this? And if Pitch seamed confident in this then he could trust it wasn't to talk him out of being with the older man, right? So maybe they _could_ get along. The thought made him giddy. And he began to hope that maybe everything was finally falling in to place. Finally, maybe they could all be happy.  
Maybe... they could all be a... a family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's part 1~  
> Would love to hear from you guys in comments to know what you think!  
> Not sure when part 2 will be out, first I'm going to write out chapter 2 of my other BlackIce fic 'The definition of a stalker' before writing the next chapter of this.  
> And warning, it's going to become more violent from here. As you can see it doesn't fit all the tags yet but trust me it will...
> 
> P.S I tried to show Bunny and North's accents through a little in the way I wrote it but not sure if it reads that way... Hope it's not that bad. X'D


	3. Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack, fully trusting in his lover, goes along with Pitch and his want to go to the North pole.  
> Happy, though nervous of seeing the Guardians, he hopes for them all to get along at last.  
> But, things don't go quite as planed...

When the Boogieman and winter spirit had finished their bath, Pitch lifted himself out and lent a hand down to help Jack out as well. They dried themselves with a pair of soft black towels, before Pitch took Jack's to help him dry his hair properly so that the water wouldn't end up freezing to it and his scalp, something that Jack despised. It reminded the younger spirit of flying through rain. It would always freeze on his scalp and feel uncomfortable.  
They dressed before leaving the lair on the back of one of Pitch's largest Nightmares. Jack had actually found he'd become somewhat attached to them; he wasn't sure what it was about these dark creatures, but he felt drawn to them somehow and could understand now the beauty Pitch saw in them. This one in particular, Onyx. She seemed to be Pitch's favourite as well. Unless she was to far away to call upon, which in it's self was unusual since she mostly remained by the Boogieman's side, then he would always choose her when he needed a ride.  
As they flew up higher in to the clouds above, Jack let himself slide of and gracefully spun loops around Pitch and Onyx as they continued to fly through wind that grew colder and colder as they went further north. Pitch smiled at him as the boy giggled, letting the wind pull him about playfully.  
When they'd nearly reached North's Workshop, Jack sat back down on Onix's back behind Pitch. They landed shortly after, coming to a smooth stop outside the main doors.

"Pitch..?"

"hmm?"

"I'm... kinda nervous here."

"Oh? I couldn't tell. With all the calm staying still you've been doing since I asked you here." Jack mumbled a shut up in Pitch's back making him laugh.  
"Come now my dear, I'm only playing. You'll be fine. Everything is going to be okay."  
Jumping down from the Nightmare, they advanced to the door and Pitch raised his hand to knock.

"Wait..."

"... Yes?"

"...Do you think... No, nevermind."

"What is it Jack?"

"It's nothing. I just hope we can all, you know, get along." Pitch smiled and leaned down to kiss the boy's forehead.

"For your sake Jack, so do I. Though I can't promise any _friendship_ of sorts, I will try my best. Well, at least so that we may be able to put up with each other to a minimum." Jack smiled back, and Pitch moved to knock, alerting the residence of their arrival. Though he supposed they most likely already knew they were there and only waited for their knocking as a form of upholding formalities, because North opened the large door barely five seconds later.  
With a guarded look he nodded to Pitch who gave a nod back, and then smiled down at Jack who smiled nervously back up at him.

"Hello Jack, Pitch. Please, come inside." He moved out of their way and motioned inside. They walked in and North shut the door behind them.  
"How are you, Jack?"

"I'm good, thanks. It's nice to see you again, North." He smiled brightly.

"That's good to hear, Jack. It's nice to be seeing you also." North smiled back, but it faltered as he looked down at the darkened patch of skin on Jack's right cheek.  
"Please, follow me." He walked forward and, Pitch taking Jack's hand to comfort him, they followed until they were all in a large furnished room that resembled a living-room, where Bunny and Tooth were waiting for them as they talked in hushed tones by the fireplace. When they heard the door shut they both turned to see North closing it as Pitch and Jack walked to the centre of the room. Jack smiled, tightening his grip on his lover's hand before letting go to walk a few more steps closer.

"Jack! It's been so long..!" Toothiana flew forwards and puled Jack into a strong hug, much to Pitch's dislike. But he said nothing and did not move; this was not the time for being overly possessive.

"Tooth! I can't breath!" Letting him out of her strong grip, but still keeping her small hands on his shoulders, she smiled brightly at him and gave a quick apology. She was smiling, but her eyes looked... sad? Maybe she felt bad for them not having seen each other in so long, he thought.  
Bunny walked towards him then, but he didn't smile. He just looked... Jack wasn't sure what expression that was, and it made him nervous. It almost looked like pity.

"Hey there, frostbite." Bunny patted his back.  
"How ya been?"

"Good... I'm good. I'm, happy to see you guys." Tooth lifted her hand to touch Jack's cheek.

"Jack, sweetie what's this..?" She looked in Jack's eyes and then over his shoulder at Pitch. North looked down at the man who was now glaring back at the Tooth Fairy.

"Yes, mark on cheek; what is it?" Pushing Tooth's hand away, Jack turned around to look at North.

"Oh, this? It's nothing, really. I just fell out of a tree when I was messing around, that's all."

"You are sure..?"

"Yes! It's nothing, really. It'll be gone by tomorrow. Doesn't even hurt, see?" He poked at it and smiled best he could, wanting them to just leave it alone. He couldn't let them suspect it was Pitch; even if it was. Pitch didn't mean to hurt him; this was nothing, at least, not when it came to how Pitch _use_ to treat him, and he didn't want them thinking bad of their relationship. But they didn't seem completely convinced...  
Glancing around the room he realised someone was missing.  
"Hey... where's Sandy?" North walked up to Jack, his large frame blocking his view of Pitch, and the exit.

"Sandy, he be here very soon." He placed his hands on Jack's shoulders, gently squeezing, the weight a lot heavier that those of Tooth's. It was comforting, but at the same time he was starting to feel a little suffocated between the three Guardians around him.  
"Jack, I want you to know we are sorry, sorry for not being there for you like we should have. But we are here now, and we only want you happy, safe. We are here for you, Jack; we shall help you."

"...What are you talking about?" From behind North he heard a startled gasp and then a bang.  
"W-what..?" He shoved past North to see Pitch lying on the floor, unconscious; Sandy stood behind him.  
"Pitch!" He tried to run over to him but that same strong grip was back on his shoulders in an instant, keeping him grounded.  
"What are you doing?! Let me go!" Sandy walked over Pitch and towards Jack, lifting his hand, a thin line of dream-sand began to make it's way to him.  
"No! Sto-stop... y... why... nn..." Everything went black, his body and mind falling under the control of golden sand; but oddly enough there were no dreams to great him when he fell under; nothing to entertain him in his forced sleep. Only sheer darkness.  
North stopped his body from falling to the floor and picked him up in his arms.

"Bunny, you take Pitch to cell. Keep eye on him."

"My pleasure."

"Tooth, Sandy, you come with me." North walked out through a door in the other side of the room close to the fireplace, the other two following close behind as Bunny dragged Pitch out of the door he'd come in through.  
Pitch, unlike Jack, was dreaming; it was sweet and calming, but it was something he would forget the moment he woke, with only an echo of laughter and a sad sentiment of something, something he would of liked to remember, left to tell him he'd ever even had it at all.

When Pitch began to come to, he felt sick. Hot. Drained. It was incredibly hard to open his eyes, but he knew he had to. He slowly did so, and couldn't comprehend where he was; it was so bright he couldn't see, as if strong white light was pouring in on him from every end, burning at his skin and blinding him. When his eyes adjusted somewhat and his mind was fully awake, he realised that that's exactly what it was. No wonder he felt like he might just die. He was in what seemed to be a square room lined top to bottom, apart from a cool small black circle he sat upon in the centre, with lights. He could barely see and it hurt to move, but he could just make out one area of the room where the light was slightly less intense. It appeared to be the exit; a door lined with the same lights save for a panel in which he could only just make out an unmistakable silhouette...

"... _Rabbit_..!" His voice came out hoarse, his throat too dry.

"Had enough beauty-sleep at last I see?"

"Why... What i-is this..?!" He hadn't felt this weak in so long. Barely able to see, skin burning up, head throbbing painfully; it was as if he had contracted a deadly human illness. But this is what happens when such a being as himself is exposed so drastically to such strong light.  
He reached out a hand to examine one of the many lights on the floor, only to pull his hand back when it barely touched what seemed to be a glass surface that covered them all, possible to protect them from being broken by himself. It burnt as if he had touched fire... Bunny chuckled at his efforts as he watched him through the metre or so long and wide area of the door that held no lights so that the room's prisoner could be observed from the outside.

"Yeah, that ain't gonna work, ya mug."

"How dare you do this..! I came to you all, putting my _trust_ in you, something I would never do under any other circumstances, all for Jack's sake... and you fools do this?!"

"Yeah, cause we don't trust ya. Even if ya mean all of what ya said, we can't let frostbite be with ya any longer."

"And what, might I ask, have you done with my said lover..?!" Bunny made a sound of disgust.

"Lover... That what'ya like to call kids who ya manipulate to wantin' to be with ya?"

"I _never_ manipulated him in to wanting me! I became attracted to him and he returned my affection..! I love him; and before you say anything else no not for his body or his power!"

"Sure, whatever. If ya'd really like ta know, North, Sandy n' Tooth are with him in a secure room. Once he's awake they're gonna try and keep him calm and help him realise what ya really are and what ya've done to 'im, no mater how long it takes. We'll make him better, he'll be back on our team, he'll forget about you, and ya can stay in here for the rest of yer sorry life."

"You're... You are all going to regret this..!" Pitch dipped his head as he began to pant. He was finding it very hard to keep this up. He didn't want to look week in front of his enemy, but the heat and pain made it hard to talk correctly. He felt like laying down and closing his eyes, but he forced himself to look back up, squinting from the blinding light.  
"You have no idea of what you've done..."

"Oh? Looks to me like we beat ya, _again_." Bunny laughed.

"I hope your eyes burn out of their sockets from staring in to this damn room for so long..!"

"That ain't gonna happen. Ya see this?" He taped the glass of the door's panel.  
"It's no normal stuff. Don't matter how long I enjoy watchin' ya squirm, my eyes'll stay jim-dandy."

"...Fuck you!" Bunny just laughed again and lifted something up that blocked what little view Pitch had of him before more light filled that now black shape on the door. He must have closed a panel of some sort...  
Letting his head rest on the cool black circle of floor beneath him, Pitch took a shaky breath and couldn't help but fear that he may be stuck in this painful room for a very long time; but even worse, they might just make Jack hate him...  
He couldn't loose him; he just couldn't...

Bunny walked to a different room; when he got there he stood beside North.

"Is he secure?"

"Oh yeah, that room's workin' just as planed."

"Good."

"Listen mate, I gotta go, Easter's tomorrow and I've gotta make sure everything's in order. But I'll be back before I start my rounds of bringing the nippers their eggs to see how Jackie's doin'."

"Alright. We see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya'." Bunny turned to look at the corner of the room where the Sandman sat and said his goodbye, before stomping his paw on the ground, leaving through a tunnel.  
North stood in front of a heated door, looking in to a room with heated walls. In the centre, on a panel meant to keep the centre of the room freezing, was Jack shouting at Tooth as she tried to calm him down. He'd just woken up, far from happy and throwing threats around. After a few minutes she exited as Jack tried but failed to follow as he shouted at her, unable to walk more than a step off the cold area of the room.

"Come back here! Let me out! I'll make you all pay for this..! As soon as I get out of here you're dead! You hear me?! I'll make you pay for this you bastards!" Tooth shut the door without looking back, her head down.

"Was this really needed, North?" She looked up, tears in her eyes. North sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"With how darkness has changed him, Jack is too dangerous. Unstable. To that we can see Pitch told truth. We had no choice, Tooth."

"But you heard him... He hates us. How are we suppose to help him when we've betrayed his trust and taken his lover away? He won't listen to anything we say..."

"Jack does not mean what he says, darkness caused by Pitch makes him feel this way. We need to find way to take away that darkness, and then he will listen. We will find way, this is promise." Tooth nodded, though her facial expression stayed the same, sad and doubtful. She had a terrible feeling that this was not the answer, but fuel for the black fire that Jack had fallen in to.  
And she had to resist going to Pitch to ask forgiveness and beg he help them save Jack, even if that would now be far fetched... It's just that she had the nagging feeling that Pitch, for once, had done nothing wrong, at least not on purpose; and that he truly loved and wanted Jack to be safe.  
When she was in that room with Jack, she felt a sort of aura around him, something alien to who Jack was, but more than what North thought it to be, something that did not belong, not just to Jack, but to this world. Something that tells you you're not safe that she should have felt around a different spirit, but no longer did.  
Toothiana was scared.  
She was _terrified,  
_ of Jack Frost.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's part 2~  
> Originally it was to be longer, but I decided to cut it in two, ending this chapter here so that I could get it out now; cause wow I haven't released a new chapter in forever...  
> WARNING! It's going to get a lot more dark from here on...
> 
> Not sure when part 3 will be out, because I also have to work on my other PitchJack fics (to those who read 'The definition of a stalker', part-3 will be out very soon!). As for this one I think it will have a maximum of three more parts, so six in total if you count the prologue too. But, if anyone is interested, I may do one or two other fics about this one. One showing you how Pitch and Jack got together and when the Guardians found out in this story, and maybe another showing what happens after the end of this Easter one.
> 
> So I promise I haven't given up on any of my BlackIce fanfictions, PitchJack is still my OTP~  
> Infact soon I'll have a new one coming out called Brutal Beasts!  
> I just had a long break because, well life and me stuff, and work was stressful and they were overworking me and not paying me on time... I'll hopefully get properly back in to the swing of things with fanfictions and drawings, now that I've quite my job and am working part time from home (I'm a tattoo artist and piercer if you were wondering) I now have more time for me.
> 
> Oh, and I'm thinking about renaming this fic, but not sure to what yet...  
> I'm just not that keen on the title.  
> What do you think?
> 
> Thanks for reading, please leave a comment and tell me what you think~


	4. Tip of the iceberg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never back a wild animal into a corner.  
> This is a commonly known thing.  
> And yet, the Guardians failed to see the grave mistake they had made until it was to late.  
> Maybe now they'll see who the one that must not be backed in to the corner truly is...  
> But they will still fail to realise that this is just the beginning.....

After at least a few hours of screaming out threats and profanities and trying everything he could to get free, Jack knelt down in the middle of the cold panel of his heated room, head bowed and eyes wide and red. He was breathing erratically, fists clenched and nails close to drawing blood. Closing his eyes, he concentrated and managed to calm his breathing somewhat. Opening his eyes again, he looked around himself, paying close attention to everything he could see, every detail, searching for a way around this... _imprisonment_.  
He sat like this for an hour, thinking and analysing, until he punched the panel bellow him in frustration from his inability to find a way out of this. Then his eyes widened. His fist of course left no mark other than the normal frost, but the moment he'd slammed his fist down, the sound suggested that though the metal was most likely impenetrable, it was not extremely thick; It sounded hollow. Not far beneath could lay the mechanisms and wiring that made this thing work. And as he examined the metal plate further, he realised that, though no thicker that the width of a hair, between the panel and the surrounding lit glass, was a gap. A grin pulled at his lips, toothy and full of content madness. He glanced up at the door to the cell; no-one was looking inside and he let out a low chuckle.

"Fools..." Placing both hands palm down close to the edge of the metal plate, frost spread forward from his fingertips and over to the miniscule gap, finding it's way in easily. Jack closed his eyes and concentrated, barely holding back his laughter as he used his magic to feel around below...

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Pitch was curled in on himself, trying his best to hide away from the light, if even just a little. It's intensity was painful and draining. He could barely even think straight anymore.  
He'd tried to find a way out, ow how he'd _tried_ ; but to no avail. All that that had brought him was making the effects the light had on him work faster and more intensely, wearing him down and making him feels like his skin would burn off.  
How long had it been now? A day? A week? He wasn't sure; and he was losing hope as he felt like he may loose consciousness if this kept up for much longer.  
It was too _bright._  
It was _too hot..._  
And now he could hear an infernal _ticking noise_!  
And then the lights started to flicker like god damned _Christmas_ lights which of course just made this situation so much worse an-...!

The lights, started to... _wait_.

There was one last clicking sound before the sound of something powering down, and then, the lights died completely.

Pitch lifted his head, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the wonderful darkness of the room. The only sound now being his gasping breath.

 

* * *

 

Not even half an hour ago, Bunny had returned to see how things were, to learn that Jack had only just calmed down not to long before, no longer screaming and instead sitting down without another noise escaping the room he was confined to.  
He had talked to the other Guardians some, before deciding to go to the floor bellow to check on the Nightmare king and maybe torment him some more. But before he'd even gotten half way to the other's cell, with his heightened hearing he could hear some odd noises originating from where he'd just come from, and then the lights began to flicker around him. His eyes widened and he ran as fast as he could to were their enemy was hopefully still contained. He would have run to where Jack was, but with three other Guardians already there watching him and nobody watching Pitch, his mind was quickly made up.  
Slamming open the door to the small room that held the entrance to Pitch's cell, he growled and pulled out his weapons upon seeing the cell door slowly squeak open.

 

* * *

 

Tooth gasped as the power went out completely and a maniacal laughter erupted from Jack's cell.

"Oh my goodness! North, what's happening?!" Drawing his swords, the large bearded man held a serious expression.

"Not sure..." He looked from the door Jack was behind to the exit of the room they were in and then back to Jack's door.  
"Tooth, you go give Bunny backup, me and Sandy watch Jack."

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes. If this is Boogieman's doing, Bunny may need help. We take care of Jack; _go_." As he finished talking and Sandy nodded in agreement at Tooth, the laughing got closer. Taking a deep breath, Toothiana nodded and left as she was told.

When she got in eye-sight of the open door in the hallway a floor down, she sped up as she could hear fighting and shouting.

"I told you you would regret this!"

"How the Fuck d'you even get out?!"

"I said it _wasn't me!_ "

Bunnymund was suddenly thrown out of the room, hitting the wall hard enough to crack it. At that she came to a sudden stop, shocked, before hurrying forward to his aid. She knelt down beside him to make sure he was okay. He'd been knocked out, but other than that he seemed alright. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in, only to drag it back in to her lungs at the footstep behind her. She spun around, now floating off the floor, daggers at the ready. Pitch stood in the doorway, panting with an unreadable look on his face. He looked up at the ceiling, his pupils so small they were mere dots in the silver and gold pools, even with the now extremely dim natural lighting. he suddenly looked to his left and took off in that direction.

"Hey, Stop! Pitch!" She chased after him, only just managing to catch up to him enough to shove him off to the side and out of the hallway they were in, through a door and over a balcony. They both tumbled down and landed hard on a stone floor with a loud crashing thud. They were now in a large room that was used for storing boxes, wrapping paper and anything else that could be used to wrap up gifts. The only others there being a hand full of elves that soon scurried away in fear.  
Groaning, Pitch lifted himself as quickly as his pained body would let him as Tooth rubbed at her head and hissed in pain. He was about to hurry away until Tooth spoke in a worried tone.  
"What's happening to him, Pitch..?"

"W-what?" Turning to look down at her as she slowly lifted to her feet

"What... what's happening to him? Why is he becoming like this? This isn't him! Not at all! He's so... So..."

"Well perhaps if you had listened to me things would be getting better right now, but _no_! You all had to make things worse didn't you?!" Tooth just stood there panting for a moment, unsure of what to say as Pitch ground out the words through clenched teeth.  
"Did you realise the energy he lets off now? Is that it? ...Have you noticed that he's the one that turned the power off and not me?!"

"W-we didn't, we couldn't know..."

"Oh close your beak you brightly coloured wench! If you hadn't abandoned him for being with me in the first place then maybe this would have never happened to him! Just maybe he would be happy and there could have been some level of peace between us; but no! As usual you Guardians have to mess everything up! No matter what I do you are all too _stupid_ to see the difference of when I'm endangering your ways or when I'm just existing _peacefully_! You always see everything in black and white no matter how colourful your exterior! You're _fools_ , the lot of you!" The lights began to flicker back on as power returned to the workshop.  
"And Jack... Jack was the wonderful exception. A Guardian who saw things for what they _really are!_ And now-"

"Stop it! We may have made our mistakes but don't push all the blame on us! This is as much your fault as ours!" Tooth had tears in the corners of her eyes as she floated only inches off the floor, hands in tight fists at her sides, daggers laying discarded somewhere on the stone floor from their fall.  
They both stared at each other with anger as they heard commotion getting closer from above. Tooth wondered how she could think this man had done nothing wrong. He was evil, selfish, deranged and manipulative as he had always been... And she was right. He was throwing all the blame at them but Pitch had a big role to play in this, and how could he have let things get to this extent if he had nothing to do with it and wanted nothing more than Jack to be happy? She gritted her teeth.  
"I hope he leaves you because he deserves far better..!"

"Oh? And who would that be? You?" he laughed under his breath. And then their eyes widened as debris fell beside them; they both looked up as they realised the fighting they'd been hearing was now on the balcony above. They stepped back a few times as the fight, including Bunny who had evidently come to, found it's way to their floor in a similar way that Tooth and Pitch had ended up there.  
Pitch soon spotted Jack lifting himself up, staff in hand.  
"Jack!" A wave of relief hit Pitch, but was quickly replaced with worry at the way the boy turned and looked at him. Jack stomped forward in a slow run towards Pitch.

"You told me everything would be okay! I trusted you and you lied!" Jack screamed out before swinging his staff at Pitch the moment he was close enough, catching the taller man off guard and throwing him back in to a wall. He hit the wall far harder than Bunny had not long before, and though it somehow didn't knock him out, it made him cough up blood, and the Guardians all stared in shock at what just happened.  
Pitch felt impossibly weak in this moment. He had been pushing himself as it was, his powers and strength weakened immensely from being trapped in that infernal room; and now his lover had hit him so hard he'd crashed in to a wall and was coughing up blood and wheezing, unable to pick himself up as Jack got closer, but also unwilling to fight back against the boy.  
He'd never felt quit like this before, so weak and so willing to be this way. He could nearly feel his powers betray him, leaving him along with his will to protect himself from the boy in front of him; a sort of depression being their replacement.  
Jack dropped his staff and fell to his knees in front of him, anger masking a face that should be smiling at him.  
He barely defended himself when the freezing punches started, hitting him in the face and arms and chest, intent on not harming Jack and feeling after what he has done that he deserves this.  
The Guardians didn't know what to do in this situation, frozen in there place by the sheer madness of it all.  
Was that really Jack they were seeing beating up Pitch who was letting him do it?  
The lights flickered some around them, and the punches slowed and then stopped, Jack blinking and breathing heavily as he stared in to Pitch's eyes. His fists fell to his sides and he began to cry as the anger turned in to fear and regret.  
"I... I..!" Jack tried to speak his voice trembling and confused. Pitch lifted a hand to soothingly stroke the younger's pale cheek and Jack was horrified at what he had just done to his lover. Jack's crying became more intense and he was shaking as he reached forward to hold the man's bleeding face in his trembling hands.

"...Jack..."

"P-Pitch... I, I'm so sorry..! Please forgive me... I'm so sorry! So so sorry! Please... I, I love you, I'm sorry..! I love you I do, I-I don't know w-what I..!" Pitch shushes him and Jack let's him pull him in to an embrace, his head leaning on the beaten man's shoulder as a hand rests on the top of his snowy head.

"It's okay Jack, It's okay..." Jack tried to calm down but the tears wouldn't stop, his hands holding on to the man's robe tightly as he continued to whisper apologies in to his lover neck.  
The Guardians began to advance towards the pair who were now curled up on each other. Jack noticed them coming closer and without lifting from Pitch's hold he shouted warningly at them.

"Stay back! Don't come near us, I won't let you!" As he said this an unusually fogy coloured frost spread out from under him, stopping about a meter in front of the Guardian's feet as they came to a sudden halt. Jack would have done more than just that, if it wasn't for the hand that now stroked gentle fingers through his hair calmingly. He closed his eyes as soft shushing noises left the man he held tightly and warm breath fell over his ear.

"...Jack. Let's just go home..."

"...Y-yeah..." Pitch moves his free hand sideways and the lights in the room flickered a couple of times as the shadows grew around them; balling his hand in to a fist, the lights completely went out for a second, everything going pitch black;  
and when they came back on,  
the two were gone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last, part 3!  
> I hope you like this chapter, and I hope there are still some of you who are waiting for updates and haven't given up on me cause of my terrible updating skills... heheh  
> Sorry I take forever to update things lately... And sorry this is kinda short...  
> And... please note that the next part will be *clears throat* extremely mature like shit oh my god what am I writing I'm sorry but same time I'm not.  
> So I'm now going to change the rating from M to E.
> 
> Review are greatly appreciated!  
> They also tell me people are still reading and if you like it, and that gives me motivation even if it's just a couple of words~
> 
> Part 4 should be out beginning of next month at the latest. Maybe before the end of this month.
> 
> Love y'all~


	5. Numb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it's the people who appear to be fine, who appear to be strong, who need the most help.  
> Sometimes, the broken break those around them without even meaning to...
> 
> Feeling pain or feeling nothing at all;  
> which is the worst..?

When they appeared back in their underground home, Jack and Pitch just sat there against a wall for a while without another word, holding on to each other as Jack began to doze off.  
Pitch continued to stoke his fingers through the white tangled locks; he didn't know what else to do. He felt so... _numb_.  
His skin no longer felt burned, and the bruises from Jack's punches felt like they were starting to heal up, thankfully. He was lucky he hadn't received any further damage, because his body might not be able to heal so fast if what had happened had dragged out any further. His body was strong, but still incapable of keeping up at a higher than human pace after a certain amount of damage. But even though his rather fast heeling process was kicking in, he barely felt any better... And at the same time he just felt so confusingly numb.  
He stared at nothing as he listened to Jack's cool breathing against his neck. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his brow furrowed. He didn't understand what was happening to himself anymore, let alone Jack. He'd felt so oddly numb a second ago and now he felt so, so... He wasn't sure, what was this feeling? He gasped when he felt something wet roll down his cheek. Quickly wiping it away he buried face in Jack's hair, eyes scrunched shut as he held the sleeping boy close.

"Oh Jack, what's happening to us..?" he whispered far to shakily.

An hour or so went by; at some point Pitch falling in to a light sleep, though it barely lasted half an hour, and then not to long after, Jack stirred, lifting his head to rub at his tired eyes.

"mmn... oh, hey Pitch..." Pitch blinked a couple of times before turning his gaze to the boy still held in his arms, somehow unable to look him directly in the eyes.

"... Hello my dear." Jack's hand came up to stroke the side of Pitch's healing face, and the man closed his eyes and sighed in response. Jack smiled and began to kiss his neck, starting with gentle pecks that became open mouthed kisses and laps of his tongue from the crook of his neck to the base of his ear.  
" _nn_... Jack, stop."

"Why? I'm making you feel good aren't I..?" Jack smirked against his ear.

"...Yes, but... I don't want to do this right now. Just, not right now..."

"What, because of what happened with those stupid _Guardians_?" Jack ran his hand down from Pitch's face, ignoring the now dry blood as it smudged slightly under his fingers. That cold hand went along his chest and to his crotch, and began rubbing him gently through the black material separating their skin. Pitch gasped at the touch, but quickly pushed his hand away.  
"Aww... _Come on~_ Let me help you forget, hmm?" Jack then bit down on his earlobe and ran his teeth gently over the soft flesh. Pitch bit his lip trying to hold back any other unwanted sounds that might egg the boy on to continue.

"Stop it, Jack... I'm not in the mood for this." Pitch shoved Jack off of his lap as gently as he could, before standing and taking a few steps forward, his back to the overly horny boy.  
"After everything that just happened, we should just get some proper sleep, okay?"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"Are you _deaf_?"

"..." With a stern but worried face, Pitch turned to look at Jack.  
"Jack, please, I don't want another fight. Now come with me, let's just go to bed. I'm too tired." Trying his best to keep his calm, he turned back around and began to head for a tunnel that would take him to their bed chamber; but when he was right in front of the entrance a pale hand grabbed his shoulder and he stopped.

"It's not fair." Pitch turned slowly.

"What isn't..?"

"I'm in the mood. I want to have sex with you, _now_. It's not fair."

"...Yes well, I'm not... We'll do it later. Right now I'm tired and I only want one thing and that is to lie in my bed and _sleep_. I'm sorry Jack, but after all that has happened now is just not the time."

"Yes, it is." Jack's hand left Pitch's shoulder and slid down his arm to his wrist.  
"Now is the _perfect_ time."

"No, it's not. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. Join me if you want, but don't bother me with this any more tonight." Pitch snapped before he was about to turn around once again, but a sharp pain suddenly shot through his arm from his right wrist, making him gasp in surprise. Quickly looking down at Jack's hand he saw ice beneath it, tightly encircling his wrist.  
"...Jack... What are you..." When he looked up at Jack's face, he was lost for words as an unusual stare was aimed at him, and those eyes that he couldn't get himself to look into until now just didn't seem _right._

" _It's. Not. Fair._ " Pitch's eyes widened and he was suddenly slammed in to a wall for the second time that day, ice finding it's way around his other wrist and his ankles, shackling him to the stone. Jack slowly walked over to him and Pitch saw what was wrong with his eyes as what little light was in the lair flickered, nearly glowed, in them.

"W-why is there... Jack, there's, your eyes are changing colour..!" Jack stopped inches in front of him and lifted his arm. Bringing down his hand, the ice that held Pitch's wrists in place moved and lowered the bound man's face to Jack's level, Pitch's torso leaning forward slightly off of the wall. They were now eye to eye, where Pitch could stare closely at the lack of blue in Jack's eyes and the new silver with black speckled outlines that replaced it. Jack didn't answer, but instead reached his hand to his face, stroking his cheek.  
"...Jack? Please, answer me..! Ja-"

"You have pretty eyes... But I don't want to see them right now." His hand slid from Pitch's confused, nearly scared face, and swooped sideways. The ice that held Pitch in place broke from the wall and made him spin to face it, the ice reattaching itself once again as Pitch made a noise of surprise, his face pressing in to the ruff stone.

"Jack, stop this! Let me go!" Black sand began to rise up and surround them, but cold fingers suddenly forced their way between dark lips and in to Pitch's mouth. The Boogieman became motionless, eyes wide as he felt ice fill his mouth, shutting it tight and acting like a freezing gag to his words; only pained muffled sounds being let through as his body shook and squirmed. His nightmare sand quickly swooped around the ice to try and free himself when panic suddenly began to set in, but stopped still at Jack's next actions.

"I wouldn't do that If I were you..." The ice spilled over the outer-side of his mouth, following Jack's fingers as he dragged them out, covering his lips, the pain burning inside and out. The sand hovered about them, hesitantly.  
"Put it away and don't try that again. You know that stopping your damn voice isn't the only thing I can do... Don't move, or I'll make that go down in to your lungs." The black sand slowly disappeared, and Pitch, cheek pressed hard against the wall, tried to turn his horrified eyes to see over his own trembling shoulder at his supposed lover. He could just about see Jack's face behind him. But it only took one glance at the madness in the boy's eyes to know what he was about to do, and Pitch closed his own eyes, not wanting to see his lover with that look anymore.  
That was not his Jack. He wanted him so badly, wished he would wake up, but he knew that would only happen when this version of him had gotten what he wanted, if then.  
He felt cold hands on his neck as they smoothed across his skin and beneath his robe, before grabbing the edges and ripping it off. The remaining threads of fabric were quickly ripped away as well, before freezing hands rested on trembling grey ribs.  
"I guess you forgot what you said... what you did. But I'll remind you, okay?" His hands stroked up and down Pitch's ribcage, a little to gently, and a shiver ran up the bound man's spine.  
"A little while back, you wanted to fuck me. But I wasn't in the mood..." Jack suddenly dug his nails in, earning a jolt and muffled gasp as he clawed harshly down Pitch's sides.  
"I told you I didn't want it, that I really wasn't in the mood, but you _wouldn't listen_. You got _angry..._ " Pitch opened his eyes again to try and see in to Jack's, wanting to show he was sorry with his expression, knowing exactly what he was talking about. He thought he had made up for it, that all the apologising and babying had Jack forgive him. That Jack knew he loved him so very much, and had only done what he had done back then because he was still broken from being so very alone and he didn't know how to treat someone he cared so deeply for. He had thought they were past it. But obviously not...  
"You slammed me in to the floor, shouting at me. Saying that I _belong to you,_ and that I was not allowed to reject you and that I should do as I was _told_. You said I needed to be punished for my... _disobedience_." Pitch hated himself for what he had done. He thought that that time had been forgiven at least in some way. It had seemed like it had... but obviously Jack still held a strong grudge.  
But Pitch understood. After all, why shouldn't Jack feel that way?  
"So, I think... You could do with being punished too, don't you agree? Pitch tried his best to see him over his shoulder. He didn't know why, but now he wanted to see. Needed to see the face that went with that obscurely calm sounding voice; but couldn't. Jack had lent his forehead against his back. The nails began to claw up over his stomach and back down his chest, leaving dark marks that, in places, threatened to bleed. Pitch tried to hold back the throaty pained sounds he could feel surfacing but some slipped out anyway and Jack giggled. The sound that usually brought Pitch joy had him cringing. The pale hands continued south and slid between shivering grey skin and black fabric. Jack stroked him, sending some form of pleasure through Pitch; though it was outweighed by the pain from Jack's ice, the scratches and the fear that crept closer and closer. Jack stopped suddenly and pulled down his black pants in one go, leaving them around the man's shackled ankles. He slapped Pitch's ass hard enough to bruise as he laughed, before groping it harshly, leaving more dark scratch marks on him. Pitch's breathing became heavier and he shut his eyes tightly, waiting for it to end as the inevitable was obvious and unstoppable. He whimpered as he felt sudden pain run through his ass and lower back, and Jack bit down hard on his neck as his fingers moved unkindly, dry and quick. Pulling them out, he positioned himself and whispered-  
"You, are _mine_." before laughing to himself once more. And for the first time, Jack forced his way in to Pitch as he thrust forward...  
Their breathing picked up in pace and so did Jack as he ignored the muffled sounds of pain that his lover could no longer hold back. Jack's hand went over Pitch's mouth and he felt the ice disappear, letting his voice be heard, making a smirk grow on Jack's face.

"J-Jack..! Ja-ack! ...Jack..!" Pitch continued shouting out his name with a broken voice between the gasps and whimpers. He could feel everything and nothing. The scraping stone on his cheek, collarbone and arms as he was repeatedly forced in to the wall; the ice as it burned at his skin, so cold that it harmed even him; the harsh biting; Jack's cold hands digging their sharp icy nails in to his hips and the frost that they spewed out on to his skin; and the burning tearing feeling of Jack inside of him. He felt it all and non of it at once as his mind became blurry and he began to zone out. Blood began to drip to the floor and, for the second time in less than a couple of hours, a rare tear began to fall across Pitch's cheek.  
He couldn't remember the last time he had cried before that day...  
When Jack had eventually finished, holding still inside of Pitch for a small moment as his body calmed, he whispered to him once more.

"Calling out my name? I guess it felt good then, being bound and raped by me; _masochist slut_." He laughed and pulled out before letting his bonds give way. Unable to hold himself up, Pitch slid to the floor, half conscious but still managing to force his now hoarse voice to work once more.

"I... wasn't calling your name... You aren't Jack. ...You are not him... I was c-calling for him because I want him back... My Jack... give him back..!" Jack's dark silver eyes widened as he stared down at the naked and battered man on the floor. He growled and grabbed Pitch's hair, harshly pulling him by it to sit him up against the wall.

"We're not finished." He grabbed Pitch's jaw tightly to make him look up, and before Pitch could say or do anything, forced his way in to the man's mouth.  
"And don't you dare use your teeth..!" Pitch choked and sputtered and weakly attempted to push Jack away, but his efforts were in vain and Jack moved harshly, making him gag. How was this happening... Jack's refractory time had never been this short. He screwed his eyes closed once again, and a painful minute of barely being able to breath, as he wondered how this was possible for so many reasons, passed by slowly before Jack came. Pitch's eyes widened as he looked up at Jack's angered face as the boy suddenly shoved his member as far down Pitch's throat as it could go when cold liquid began to fill it. He struggled to breath and choked on it. Jack pulled out and quickly put his hand over his partner's damaged mouth.  
"Swallow. Don't you dare throw that up." Pitch did as he was told, only just managing to breath and to not be sick. Jack moved his hand and pressed his finger and thumb in to Pitch's cheeks so that he'd open his mouth again; seeing he'd indeed swallowed it all, he pushed him back to the floor and began to walk away, stopping once to look over his shoulder at the man who was still coughing as he tried to catch his breath.  
"... I'm going to bed..." He continued through the tunnel that Pitch was going to take before this all happened, and Pitch curled in on himself; and again, he cried; sobbed like a child.  
He lay there for hours, continuously passing out and waking up from the pain. He told himself this was his fault, that he deserved it.  
And in that time, Jack didn't go to bed, but paced about in their room, punching the walls and breaking things. When he did eventually get in bed, he took what felt like an eternity to get to sleep. And hours later, when he woke up on his own in the large bed that felt so much bigger than usual, he remembered everything he had done, and his blue eyes widened. Horrified at himself he covered his mouth feeling sick as tears streamed down his face, jumping out of bed and nearly screaming as he ran.  
And he found Pitch still laying there, naked and curled up in to a tight shaking ball, on his own on the floor in a small puddle of his own blood, sweat and tears.  
And he cried out his name; but there was no answer.

When Jack had woken up, at first he didn't believe his memory; at first thinking it had been some twisted bad dream.  
It was only when he found Pitch on the floor and held him in his arms, that he truly came to terms with it all and realised what he had done.  
He was scared. Scared for Pitch and scared for what he had become. He remembered doing it but... at the same time it didn't feel like it was him who did this. He would never do this! Not to anyone; especially the man he loved.  
And yet, here he was. Trying his best not to harm his lover further as he cleaned him up as best he could and laid him in their bed.  
Jack cried as he stroked the man's sweat soaked hair from his face, leaning down to kiss his forehead as he apologized again and again.

* * *

Once Bunnymund had successfully launched Easter and made sure that all the eggs were safely in there designated areas, he returned straight back to North's Workshop.  
He would usually take more time and deliver some eggs by his own paw, letting some of the children get a glance at him and in turn him seeing their eyes light up. But there were currently more pressing, dangerous, matters to attend to.  
Once he and the other Guardians had gathered at the Workshop once again, now that they didn't have to worry about whether or not Bunny would be having a successful Easter, and now that what had happened before had sunk in and been thought over, they agreed that they couldn't just let everything fester. They needed to go to the Boogieman's lair.  
They didn't want to have made an enemy out of Jack. Maybe they should be fearing their original enemy more; they had felt that way before. The fact that Pitch had so easily gotten in to all of the Guardians homes out of the blue had scared them; not to mention the bruise on Jack's cheek. But, with what they witnessed only hours ago, They were now more fearful of what Jack was becoming. They never thought they would see him turn on Pitch in that way... They also never thought Pitch would just let himself get beat up like that.  
They all felt a good amount of guilt for what they did, because it obviously was the wrong way to go by far.  
They had never been so wrong before.  
And now they needed to at least try and set it right. They had to do _something_.  
So they left for the lair, in hope that maybe they could apologise and at least try to calm the growing fire that they may have helped kindle.

When they arrived, they split up to search for the couple.  
At some point Bunny found himself in a hallway with multiple doors. He began opening them one by one, until he came upon a room far more cosy than any of the others, and also more occupied. He'd found their bedroom, and it looked like someone was laying in the large double bed, hidden under the quilt and blankets.  
Taking a step in, he hesitated for a moment, but then continued forward. He circles the grand bed to the side where someone was fully covered by the dark red quilt. Reaching his paw forward, ready to pull the quilt down slightly, he stopped himself a few inches away, unsure if it was a good idea.

"...Jack...?" he whispered. There was no reply of any sort, so slowly, he pulled it back. When he saw the raven hair of Pitch Black, he dropped the quilt and pulled his weapons out at the ready. He stepped back as Pitch slowly opened his eyes.

"J-Jack..?" Half awake, Pitch tried to sit up, but gave up from lack of strength. He blinked a few times as his vision cleared.  
"Y-You... You're not Jack..." Bunny stared down at him, unsure of how to react. The quilt had fallen down to the middle of Pitch's upper arm when he'd tried to sit up, and bruises, scratches, bite marks and what seemed like burns were now visible to him. One side of his face was scraped and bruised, as were parts of his arms and clavicles. His neck was covered in teeth marks, and deep red marks where scattered across his mouth, getting darker the closer they were to his dark chapped lips.

"What on earth..."

"B-Bunnymund..? Is that you? Why... W-why are you here?!" Pitch managed this time to force himself up and shuffled over to the other side of the bed away from Bunny. Bunny watched as more of the man's body became visible from underneath the sheets. Dark scratch marks covered his torso and hips, some so deep they were more like cuts. What appeared to be hand shaped bruises plastered his visible hip and the once grey skin on his wrists now held dark red and purple burn like band shaped marks. Bunny stared with wide eyes as he tried to understand what he was seeing, only one thing coming to mind after what he had witnessed the last time they had seen each other; when he had seen Jack irrationally throw Pitch in to a wall and beat him up, before breaking down and swearing he loved him...

"N-no... Did, did Jack..." At this point Jack ran in after being alerted of the Guardians presence in the lair, running over to Bunny.

"What are you all doing here?! Did you come to try and split us up again?!" Jack now stood between Bunny and the bed where Pitch still sat, unsteadily, now barely covered by their red quilt. Jack lashed out at him before he could say anything, trying to hit him in the head with his staff. Bunnymund tried to defend himself and reason with Jack to calm down, but he wouldn't listen. He noticed Pitch flop down on the bed behind Jack, eyes closed, seemingly having lost consciousness. At this point, Toothiana appeared at the doorway and called to them. Jack turned around to look at her, distracted. Bunny took the opportunity to kick him sideways, hard enough to knock Jack out cold as he hit the floor.

"Bunny?! What are you doing?!" Bunny didn't answer, but instead headed to the other side of the bed, and wrapped Pitch up in the thin black blanket that had rested on the dark quilt, and picked him up in his arms.

"We need ta' leave."

"What? But... what about Jack? Why do you have Pitch in your arms?" she asked, slightly panicked. Unlike Bunny, who had rather good night vision, Toothiana, though she couldn't see too badly in the night herself, was not so skilled at seeing clearly in such dark places as the currently unlit lair, and could not see the damage on Pitch's body from where she stood.

"You'll see later, but we have ta hurry before Jack wakes up!" They both ran out of the room, and soon found Sandy and North. After Bunny insisting they needed to leave, they did so, going back to North's.  
The others were rather shocked and confused at first, seeing Bunnymund's protective grip on the man he hated the most; so not many questions were asked, as Bunny made it obvious that they needed to leave straight away, keeping questions at minimum until they'd returned to the Workshop.  
When they did, he explained what he had seen.  
They were all shocked and deeply disturbed by what they were hearing and what they saw of Pitch.  
They had never wanted this. They could hardly believe that Jack had done this...  
They had never stopped caring for Jack, they'd felt it was best they distance themselves somewhat. And then when they felt they had an opportunity and obligation to separate Pitch and Jack, to save Jack, they took it.  
But, it turned out it was Pitch who needed saving.  
And this was their fault.  
They should have helped when the man had basically begged them.  
They should have helped them _both_...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well would you look at that, a new chapter not even two weeks after the last update!  
> Yay me!  
> So... eheh. Bet you weren't quit expecting that now were ya?  
> Hope this chapter wasn't too disturbing for anyone.  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think!


	6. Butterfly burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings are fragile things, as is the mind.  
> Sometimes, it can be hard to tell the difference between pain and insanity.  
> The not so funny thing is, the questioning of your sanity, whether it be by yourself or others, is often the cause of your insanity.  
> However the funny thing is that in this world, my dear, we're all mad here.  
> Oh, the irony of it all...

_Butterflies._   
_There were so many butterflies..._   
_Each one as gold as the next, flying about a field full of flowers._   
_He didn't know where, or even who he was,_ _or why he was here,_ _as he sat underneath a tree in the centre of this field.  
But he felt he knew this place somehow._   
_He sat there for a long while, just watching the creatures dance in the soft breeze, summer colours all around him._   
_It felt calm; so calm._   
_And he despised it._   
_It didn't matter how calm it all was, or how beautiful it seemed. It was all so wrong; his mind felt chaotic and couldn't stay still, unlike how he must appear. He felt something dear to him was missing, but he couldn't remember, no matter how hard he tried._   
_He felt as if he should be trembling with the unease and fear that something was forgotten._   
_And yet, he couldn't bring himself to stand, couldn't move from where he sat._   
_He didn't even twitch; couldn't move in any way._   
_And then a butterfly landed on his arm._   
_He looked down and it was different to the others. It wasn't golden, but mostly blue with touches of silver.  
He found it was so beautiful he couldn't look away.  
But then it's colour began to change.  
He watched it with new found interest as silver took over blue, and where silver had begun, black now began to engulf it._   
_It was nearly a complete black when it began to burn his skin._   
_He screamed out in fear and pain, his mobility returning, but unable to even swat the thing away before colour drained from all around him,_   
_and he blacked out, falling through space..._

_He could hear voices now, in the cold darkness. Whispering and gentle._

_The cold eventually began to warm, and unusually sweet smells began to fill the air..._   
_Where was he?_   
_The voices were muttering not to far away, light beginning to filter in from somewhere..._   
_From what he realised must be... are, his closed eyelids._   
_He was... asleep... Dreaming?_   
_He had to wake up._   
_Danger..._   
_Suddenly he was filled with fear, something was badly wrong, something was different._   
_There was danger, he was in danger and he needed to get away from the shadows..!_

Dull golden eyes opened with a start, and he could hear the quiet talking forming in to something he could comprehend as he tried to focus on the blurry ceiling above him.

"... if... ...someth... The.. yes."

"..ka...n... ... ...this is... and... Ja..."

Pitch recognised those accents...

"...No one deserves... this... No matter what he's done or how much I hate 'im... I couldn't just leave 'im like that."  
He knew those voices.

"You did good thing, Bunny... You are right, no one deserves this..." Pitch knew he knew them, but, he couldn't quite remember...

"I just... can't believe Jack would do something like, like _this_..!" At this point, Pitch managed to turn his head to the side and look in the direction of the voices. it took him a moment still though to understand where he was and who was there with him. He sat up with a start when it all fell in to place in his mind and he at last understood who was there.  
Bunny and North both noted the movement and turned to him.  
"...Pitch." For a few moments nothing was said as Pitch stared with wide eyes at the two others in the room, obviously shocked and confused.

"What... am I doing here..?!" It was hard to talk, his throat was dry and sore, making him cough a few times.

"Please... remain calm. Perhaps I can get you some water?" North began to approach him slowly, but the moment he went to move Pitch shouted at him with a raspy voice despite his damaged throat.

"No! Stay a-away! I don't want anything from the likes of you!" With that he began to cough more furiously and he held a hand to his throat and another to his stomach that ached with the force of it. North and Bunny stayed still as the coughing faded, and the man wheezed as he tried to breath normally again. He looked down at himself, half covered by bright patterned blankets, his body adorned in nothing but bandages and a few fading bruises left uncovered.  
"Where... where are my clothes..?"

"Ya weren't wearin' any when I found ya..." Bunny said lowly as he looked away. Pitch blinked a few times as if he was still slightly asleep and trying to wake himself fully, before taking a shaky breath.

"...Why did you bring me here?" Pitch spoke through clenched teeth. He could have never predicted this would ever be a possible turn of events but here he was, weak, near naked and seemingly in the care of his enemies after Jack had...

"Pitch, do you know... Do you remember what happened to you..?" Pitch visibly flinched at that, refusing to make eye contact, his cheeks heating up.

"I need something to wear..." Bunny and North glanced at each other, unsure exactly of how to act in this situation. Bunny took a couple of careful steps forward.

"Listen, mate, we both know what happened to ya, what Jack did to ya... We didn' want this, non of us did. We had no idea... We didn' know Jack was capable of, of..."

"What does it matter to you?"

"What does it matter?! What matters is that my friend's turned in to a complete psycho who'll rape n' beat the bastard he's suppose to be in love with!" Pitch kept his head low, eyes on his open palms as his will to do anything but give in faded with those words that made him fully acknowledge what had happened.

"... Maybe, that's just what I deserve. Have you thought of that? You must have; I know how much you despise me. So why am I even here? You should have left me there where I belong."

"Because I never believed you actually cared about 'im; thought that you were the one treatin' him this way... Then I find out I had it backwards? That Jack turns out to be the one doing that fucked up shit?! Fucked up shit that ya won't even defend yerself from?! I'm not so hateful that I'd just leave ya there after what I saw... We wanted to save _him_ from that. But the difference now, is that Jack ain't the one suffering from that abuse."

"The difference is that... Jack wouldn't deserve this; but I do." Both Bunny and North were shocked at how Pitch was reacting. He would never admit to deserving anything bad, let alone this.

"Has Jack been telling you this, Pitch?" North asked calmly; but got no answer. He sighed and went to the door to ask the Yeti outside to bring water as well as a few other things. As he did this, Bunny sat in a chair to the side of the bed, not looking away from the man who currently looked like a completely different person. He couldn't get over how different Pitch seemed.

"How many times?"

"... What?" This time Pitch turned to look at him with a blank expression.

"How many times has this happened. Was this kind of thing already happenin' before ya, ya know, came here last time..?"

"tch..." Pitch looked away again, his hands fidgeting over the blankets.  
"It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"We just wanna know more about what happened to y-"

"Don't you know enough already?! Just look at me! You have eyes, you know what happened! I'm weak and humiliated; Isn't th-this enou-enough-" He began to cough again and he covered his face, wanting to hide away from everything but knowing he couldn't.  
"I... It's never been this bad... He never... He's never... He wouldn't do something like this..!" It was a rare thing for Pitch to panic, but he seemed to be doing so just now. Not just that, but he was afraid he was about to start crying again. And in front of Bunnymund of all people...  
"I don't think; I don't think that was him..."

"What d'ya mean..?"  
At this point the Yeti had returned with a few items, placing some of them down on a chair beside the one North had vacated to after requesting them, at the other end of the lush guest room were he sat to listen from a distance and think things through. The Yeti then walked over to place a jug of water on the bedside table along with a glass.

"I, I need to be left alone."

"Pitch..."

"Please, g-go; just go..." His face still hidden behind his hands, nails scraping at his scalp, he couldn't take their eyes on him and their questions anymore. Bunny looked over to North, who nodded before standing to leave. He looked back at the broken man in front of him with mixed feelings, and stood as North spoke and began to walk over to the door.

"Okay Pitch, we will leave you in peace for now so you may rest. One of us or a Yeti will be back later to see how you are doing and if you need anything. There are clothes on the chair if you want them." With that the two Guardians began to leave through the door.

"I really shouldn't be here... He's going to come for me; you know that, right?" Bunny turned one last time to look at him.

"We know." And with that he shut the door. And Pitch let the tears role through his fingers and down his face. His soft sobbing lonesomely echoing through the room for only him to hear.

Bunny followed behind North as they walked through the hall from the guest room where they'd placed Pitch. He sighed deeply and watched his paws as they padded forwards along the well maintained and lavish flooring.

"As I said before, you did good thing, Bunnymund. Try not to worry too much, we will find way to fix this..." Bunny looked up at North's back, then turned his head to stare at the passing walls instead. He really didn't know what to feel about all this; what he was sure of was that he was confused by his feelings. Perhaps it was because of guilt about the way he treated Pitch the last time he was here, perhaps it was the time of year, but he almost felt the need to protect the man they'd left in that bed, in an unfamiliar room on his own.  
He didn't like that he'd left him on his own...  
A Yeti guarding the door didn't seem enough somehow.

"What if he tries ta leave? Pitch, I mean..."

"We will stop him."

"What if we can't?"

"It will be fine, he is too weak."

"And what's the plan for when Jack shows up? 'Cause we both know he will, sooner or later. What about when that happens and he tries ta take 'im?"

"..." North stopped and turned to face Bunny, brow creased.  
"To tell truth, I don't know, Bunny... I don't know. ...We try to talk Jack around, and if that does not work..." Bunnymund nodded, understanding what North was trying to say.  
They already knew of what the outcome of trying to talk to Jack would be. Even if they had hope that it would be different this time, they still had to keep a clear and realistic mind about this. They had a mutual dread that filled the air around them; the dread of an impending fight. It felt inevitable.  
Bunny's mind wandered back to Pitch once again; that once incredibly powerful man, now a scared broken and frail creature, a shadow of what he once was; because of Jack. But also because of them. Because of himself. And he actually felt guilt rise in his gut like thick tar; and it made him feel sick.  
There had to be a way to save them both, right? There just had to be something they could do to fix this; he refused to think otherwise. After all, he was the Guardian of hope. It was Easter; what better time than now to spread that hope? The others, including Pitch, were lacking in that very thing. And even if just for this weekend, Bunnymund wanted to use it to rise their moral; to lift their hearts, even if it would just be by a little, he would try.  
And if he couldn't, well, he would just have to hold enough hope strongly in his own heart for all of them.  
No matter what, he could not lose hope.

* * *

_The golden butterflies were back._   
_Flittering their little glittering wings all around him._   
_But, this time he couldn't see anything other than the swarm of these glowing creatures, as if he were in a void were nothing but they and himself existed._   
_He was terrified. Every time one got a little to close he shied away._   
_He was scared of one of them turning out to not be gold, but silver and blue. If that one came back it would land on him and turn black, and it would burn him again. He didn't want it to burn him. Didn't want the pretty little thing to hurt him again.  
Didn't want to turn it black..._   
_And yet... he found himself searching for it, as if he was hoping it was there somewhere, hoping that it hadn't left him alone amongst the golden ones that had no interest in him, as if to them he did not exist; as if to their eyes he was invisible._   
_He did exist, he knew he did._   
_He was alive, wasn't he?_   
_He was. Must be._   
_He was alive and he existed and he was seen and he... was loved... right?_   
_There was someone who loved him, wasn't there..?_   
_He felt sick as it felt like this world was flipping him upside down, and the glowing of the butterflies started to flicker out of existence. Until there was one light left in front of him._   
_It wasn't gold, it wasn't silver._   
_It was just a bright glowing white in this black void._   
_Just... white..._   
_He reached for it, calling out for someone who he couldn't quite remember..._   
_Was it the one who loved him?_   
_He wanted them to come back, didn't want to be left alone._   
_They did exist, didn't they?  
He was in love with them... he remembered that, so..._   
_They had to, they just had to be real!_   
_He didn't want to be alone...  
But more than that he couldn't stand the one he loved forgetting him._   
_He didn't care if he would get hurt any more he just wanted them back..!_

Pitch woke with a start, gasping for breath and soaked in sweat. His heart was racing and he felt as if he'd been panicking, but he didn't know why; the memory of his dream to dim to recall.  
He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision. Slowly he sat up, glancing around the room as he did.  
Oh, yes... He was in one of the Workshop's guest rooms.  
He sighed, remembering that he was practically naked, and that there were clothes waiting for him on one of the plush chairs by the unlit fireplace in front of him at the other end of the room. He sat there for a few minutes, just staring, until he forced himself out of bed. He felt nothing right now, felt so numb... But limping forward he approached the chair, picking up a pair of dark purple boxers when he got there. Slipping them on, he hardly registered what he was doing; in the back of his mind he understood this and wondered how he hadn't fallen over yet.  
Once they were on, he reached for the neatly folded black pants. For a moment he stood there holding them, running them through his fingers. They were made of a sort material that wouldn't be too tight, so they probably wouldn't rub or press too badly on his wounds. He wondered if this was because whoever had picked them out had kept this in mind, choosing them so he would be more comfortable. He shook his head and decided that probably wasn't the case and that it didn't matter ether way.  
As he lent down to put them on he hissed, the damage on his body making itself known as his mind woke up a little more, the pain becoming more apparent. Carefully he pulled them up, trying not to snag them on any bandage or compress in the process; then he struggled pulling on a pair of grey socks that had small black reindeer designs on them.  
After that, he picked up the last garment, a... Christmas jumper... It also was made up of blacks and greys, apart from touches of gold here and there. At least they'd had the courtesy of giving him some of the darker and more simply decorated clothing that he presumed they had here, instead of something more _bright_ and _Christmassy_. But... there was one thing that bothered him about that sweater, and that was the gold pattern. The dots of gold around the black sleeves and hem were no problem, but the golden snowflakes that spread across the chest in a floating pattern from one side to the other... They were something that made his heart beat faster. He wasn't one-hundred percent sure why they bothered him so much, but they did. He had to close his eyes tightly and pretend he'd never seen them as he gingerly pulled the damn thing over his head. Better this than having his body on show any longer after all.  
Turning his head to look out of the windows, he watched the falling snow, wondering if Jack would come for him, or if he didn't matter to him as much as he thought he did. At least, not anymore... Maybe Jack had forgotten him..? Pitch shook his head and scrunched his eyes closed, wondering why he was thinking like this. Of course Jack wouldn't forget him, right? Jack was still in there and he loved Pitch just as much as Pitch loved him, so... But then why did he.. do those things..? That was a silly thought; of course he'd end up doing those things. But would he still want to bother getting Pitch back now that he'd had his revenge..?  
Did he really want Jack to come for him? He shouldn't, should he?  
His mind felt torn between thoughts that felt like they were coming from two different people, even though he knew they were all his own thoughts. He covered his eyes with his palms and pulled lightly at his hair, trying to stay calm as he felt he was losing his mind.  
Then a knock came at the door and he found he couldn't move; he was too scared.

"Hey, it's me. Can I come in?" Pitch's heart calmed a little when he recognized the gruff voice and Australian accent. But he gave no reply, not knowing why he couldn't bring himself to speak.  
The door opened anyway, Bunnymund walking in and closing it gently behind himself. He first looked in the direction of the bed, half expecting Pitch to be asleep there, but it was empty. So he turned his head to scan the room, and saw Pitch standing in the other end by the pair of chairs that sat in front of the fireplace. He was just stood there, unmoving with his hands covering his face, now wearing the cloths the Yeti had placed there for him a few hours ago.  
"Ah, hey... Are you, erm... okay?" He asked as he took a couple of steps towards Pitch who's back was facing him. He stopped when Pitch brought his hands down slightly and turned to look at him. Bunny's eyes widened at the face he saw. Pitch was crying silently, his face no longer monotone, but one of pure sadness and confusion. Tears ran down reddened cheeks, brow creased in worry Beneath his now shaggy black hair and eyes as gold as the Sandman's glowing dream-sand. It was like he was looking at someone he had never met before; it didn't look like Pitch Black.

"I don't want him to come for me, I don't..." Bunny's ears were flat against his head as he got closer.

"We won't let 'im hurt ya any more. Won't let 'im take y-"

"I just, I just don't want to see what they'll do to h-him..."

"...Wait. What are ya talking about? Do you mean us?"

"I... I just don't think, I can't... I'll make it worse I think... But I-I..."

"Hey, calm down, I don't get what ya tryin' ta say..."

"They... they moved! M-my fault... Again!" Pitch was shaking now, becoming unsteady on his feet. Bunny noticed this and caught him as he fell sideways.

"Wow! Hey, careful..!" Pitch's golden eyes started to closed as he began to fall unconscious.

"I sh-should have... been guarding them..!"

"Guarding..? Guarding who?"

"...I'm sorry..."

"Pitch?" Bunny held the man in his arms, listening to him mumble sorry over and over again in his sleep. He held him like this for a few minutes, unsure of what to do, until deciding to just lay him back in bed for now. Once he'd done so he sat on the edge and watched him for a little longer.  
When Pitch began to stir it became apparent that he was having a bad dream. The Easter Bunny's ear twitched at the realisation and he looked down at him, confused. He didn't know Pitch could dream, let alone have... nightmares... So he kept watching.  
At some point a grey hand lifted from under the covers and twitched beside it's owners distraught sleeping face, as if Pitch was trying to reach for or hold something in his dream. So bunny gingerly reached for that hand and held it in his paw. The action seemed to calm Pitch down. Bunny hoped no one would walk in and see this, the thought alone made his face heat with embarrassment, but he kept a hold non the less. He'd stay and watch him for just a little longer.  
Just a little bit longer...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could it be Bunny's falling for Pitch? Bet you weren't expecting that non were ya, mate?  
> Then again he might just feel bad for him, but who knows.
> 
> My chapter summaries here are all over the place... This one doesn't summarise the chapter at all XD  
> I didn't know what to write so my deep poetic side kicked in I guess? OwO
> 
> Wow I was stuck with this chapter.  
> Sorry it took so long, not only was I a little stuck on what to write next but some personal and family stuff happened and that just slowed me down so much more... Not to mention my laptop breaking down leaving me with nothing but my old desktop. *cries*  
> Would of liked both this chapter and the next finished for this Easter, but oh well this one is at least, and hopefully the last won't be to far behind. So yes, there will be only one more chapter to this story!  
> But for those who want to see more of it, I will probably make this a three part series and write a sort of prologue to this story, showing you how Pitch and Jack got together, when the Guardians found about it, and things that happened between Pitch and Jack around that time (such as the fight they had that they talk about in this), then followed by a third part, a finally/continuation of sorts.  
> Would anybody be interested in reading those? What do you think?
> 
> Also, this was suppose to be a story about a 'broken' Jack and not Pitch being the broken one this time, and, well, I think I went and broke Pitch again...  
> Oops, my bad.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!  
> Thanks for reading~


	7. Succumb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old memories return to haunt,  
> truths begin to come to light,  
> and decisions will need to be made.
> 
> Follow your love in to painful chaos,  
> or betray them to save yourself and run from what you created;  
> what would you do?
> 
> (This chapter contains a rather OOC Pitch at times, but this is on purpose for the story's sake.)

When Pitch next opened his eyes, he was waking up to the sound of the door to his guest room opening. He stared up at the ceiling for a few moments, listening to the door being gently closed followed by the soft sound of feet, before turning his head to see Bunnymund walking towards him.

"...Hey. You feelin' any better?" Pitch blinked a couple of times before looking the other way.

"I'm fine..." was his quiet response as Bunny came closer, sitting on the chair beside the bed.

"Look, I... didn't say before, but... I'm sorry. Ya know, for last time, when you were in the cell? Sorry, bout' all that shit..." Pitch hummed in response.

"An apology from _you_ ; hard to believe... What are you after?"

"I, I mean it, really. I feel bad. We all do..."

"... _If you say so_..." Bunny sighed. He wasn't surprised Pitch didn't believe he was truly sorry; it would of come as a shock if he'd actually accepted the apology, but it was still something that he'd needed to say so he'd done so anyway.  
They stayed like that in awkward silence for a few moments before Bunny spoke up again.

"D'ya... remember what happened last time I came to check on ya?"  
That last time, when Bunny had reluctantly left the room after having watched over Pitch for a short while as he slept, he went to speak to North. After the way North saw Pitch react when he first woke up, and how he surprisingly opened up a little to Bunnymund, they decided it was best only one person visit him at a time so as not to overwhelm him, and that Bunny seemed to have a better chance of getting him to talk more.  
They felt the need to better understand the situation, so as to hopefully prevent any recurrences in the future, and hopefully be able to help Both Jack and Pitch.  
"Pitch?" The man had yet to answer his first question, instead staring out of the window and away from Bunny.

"... Yes. Unfortunately."

"You..-"

"Pathetic, right? That's what your thinking, isn't it. That I would break down in to tears, blather a lode of nonsense and lose consciousness like that." Pitch closed his eyes, waiting for a confirmation, but that's not what he got.

"No. I never thought that." Opening his eyes again, he slowly turned his head to look the anthropomorphic man in the eyes, Pitch's face only showing a small amount of suspicion, blank of any other emotion.  
"There was nothin' pathetic about it. In fact, after what happened I was surprised you'd already gotten out of bed. An' the tears? Just shows ya care; I never believed in just how much ya loved Jack, until that moment... There ain't nothin' ta be ashamed of. And I ain't messin' with ya, so ya can stop looking at me like that, ya brumby." At that Pitch's gaze abandoned eye contact and he slowly sat up, scowling at the pain as he did so.  
"Listen, there's somethin' I need ta ask. You... said that you were at fault for _somethin'_ movin, _again_ ; somethin' that could change Jack. Ya said ya shoud've been guardin 'em. What is that somethin', Pitch?" In response to the question, Pitch clicked his tong before looking at Bunny as if he was suggesting something preposterous.

"Don't be _daft_ , those things I said before were caused by my state..! You shouldn't bother paying what I said then any mind."

"Ya seemed pretty worried about it ta me..." Pitch scrunched his eyes closed and balled his fist in to his blanket.

"Stop it!" The sudden loudness coming from Pitch's still soar throat caught Bunny off guard, making him jump a little. But what took him off guard the most was that just after, the man sounded apologetic, obviously trying to stay calm.  
"L-look, I..." Taking a deep breath he opened his eyes.  
"Please, I don't want to have to think about the thoughts I was having then, alright?" He looked at Bunnymund from beneath black hair that he surprisingly hadn't tried once to tame back into it's usual style, perhaps just to beaten down to bother. Bunny nodded at him, understanding that this wasn't the best time to be asking certain things.  
Pitch, his throat most likely upset from when he'd shouted, lent over to the bedside table to take his glass of water; refusing Bunny's offer to pass it to him as he did so. He gulped it all down before placing the glass back where it had been.  
Sighing, he looked back out the window. He said nothing for a minute, gently running his fingers over the healing scrapes on his cheek, before looking down at his hands, flexing his fingers slightly. Raising a hand up in front of himself, he looked confused and that confusion turned to worry as he set his hand back down. He slowly shook his head before looking up at the light in the middle of the ceiling.  
Bunnymund wasn't sure what was wrong or what he was doing, but he remained silent as he observed Pitch, who then reached his hand up towards the light. He looked concentrated now, as he squinted his eyes from the brightness. Bringing his hand back down again he looked at his palm, eyes widening slightly and his breathing gaining pace.

"D-damn it..!"

"What's wrong?"

"I... I can't turn it off. It didn't even flicker."

"Huh? The light? If it's too bright I can just go turn it off again. Wouldn't of turned it on when I came in if I knew it would bother ya that mu-"

"No! You don't understand..!"

"Ya right, I don't; mind explaining what ya talkin' about?" Pitch clutched his chest through the jumper he still wore, his other hand still held in front of himself as he looked away from it to Bunny.

"...My powers aren't working." he whispered back.

"Isn't it just 'cause you're weak right now..?"

"No, no not like _this_ ; turning the light off should be _easy_. And I'm not hurt enough to the point were I wouldn't be able to use any power at all." Bunny's ears were now flat on his head as he listened and watched Pitch become more panicked.  
"I can't... I can't feel any of my powers, at all..!" Bunny slowly stood, looking a little worried now himself.

"Maybe I should go get the others... Sandy's here right now, might be able to help since your powers are kinda similar an all."

"What? What, no!"

"... Why not?" Pitch tried to answer but didn't know what to say.  
"Listen mate, it's not healthy for any of us ta have no control over our powers; not ta mention potentially _dangerous_ ta anyone around." He said the last part light-heartedly, meaning it more as a joke to lighten the mood, as it usually only meant inconvenience. Usually only meaning those around would be followed or accidentally smacked in the face with otherwise inoffensive books, or water being turned in to... _not_ water. Silly things that caused no real harm. But Pitch seemed to take the non serious part seriously.

"You're scared my powers might randomly hurt one of you? L-look I... it's not like that you don't need to worry they can't because they're not here, I promise I won't hurt anyone, s-so you, you don't need to bring everyone in here especially him, so it's fine, just forget it!" Pitch had his hands on the side of the bed, leaning towards Bunny as he literally pleaded with him.

"That's... not what I meant, and... it's not possible ya powers are just _gone_ like that. You'd disappear, right?" Pitch's face was unreadable as he slowly sat back in a kneeling position.  
"Wouldn't you?" Pitch looked down.

"I, you're right. I thought so too, but... If that was the case then I should be dead right now. I shouldn't have survived this long after, after Jack... I don't understand." Covering his face with his hands once again he took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. Bunny looked down at him sympathetically. The site of Pitch like this was a very sad one that many would likely relish in, but the more Bunny saw him and heard from him the worse he felt about it all. And with what Pitch was saying he was starting to worry what might have actually happened with his powers... That maybe it had something to do with Jack and his turning to a more dark sense of being.

"Then at least let Sandy come n' take a look, I think he'll be able ta read yer powers; and if not maybe it'll give us a better idea of what's goin' on, okay?" Bunny began to walk away but was stopped by Pitch suddenly grabbing his right paw with one hand and forearm with the other.

"Please don't!" Pitch's eyes were wide, nearly panicked, as he stared up in to Bunny's. Bunny, face heating from the sudden unanticipated clinging of the now shaking man, stared down at him with surprise.

"A-are ya... scared of the Sandman?" Pitch's grip on him tightened nearly unnoticeably, and Bunny thanked MIM for the fur he had that hid his blush. Pitch was not looking like Pitch again, in fact, he even looked a little cute, he thought. Golden eyes looked away as their owner mumbled a response.

"...N-no..! Well, I just... you see..."

"Look, it'll be okay. I promise. So don't worry." Pitch looked back up at him, still holding on to his arm.  
"If ya want, I'll come in here with him, just me an him, no-one else, an I'll make sure nothin' happens. He won't make ya sleep if that's what yer afraid of, and he won't try ta turn ya into gold sand or whatever, like that time you tried to turn him into a nightmare, if he can even do anything like that, I dunno. But I promise that won't happen. Okay?" Slowly removing his hands from Bunny, Pitch, though he held a sceptical look, nodded slowly.  
"Okay then..." he said before clearing his throat.  
"I won't be long." Once again Bunnymund began to walk away, this time not being stopped by pleading hands. But when he got to the door, before he could open it, Pitch spoke up.

"What is happening to me..?" Bunny wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or not, but he looked over his shoulder to answer anyway.

"What d'ya mean?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know what I mean. I'm not like myself... I feel _different;_ my mind feels clearer and I can... _remember things_... I thought it was all just in my head, but I'm not even sure anymore..."

"Remember? Remember what?"

"I'm... Scared. I'm afraid and I shouldn't be able to admit it, but here I am. And yet, I don't feel as if something's changed me? I-I feel so lost... How can my mind feel clearer than it use to be but also feel so lost? I'm, I'm just, _scared_ , Bunnymund, I really am, but I don't know what of exactly and it only worries me more..." Instead of asking about what he remembered again, Bunny let it slide for now, hopping to reassure him instead.

"We'll figure it out, Pitch. Don't worry, we will. Everything always works out in the end, ya just need ta have hope." Pitch didn't answer, turning his head away and Bunny left through the door to find Sandy and North.

Now alone again, Pitch wasn't sure what to do with himself. Bunny said he would be back shortly, so there was no point in going back to sleep even if he wanted to; which he did not. But he felt he should be doing something, instead of just sitting here and waiting with the unwanted company of his own thoughts. He was already clothed and there was nothing he could think of needing or even being able to do apart from move from this spot to another in the room. Yet somehow it felt as if he may feel better for it.  
Slowly inching himself over the edge of the bed, he glanced around the room, taking in the fancy decor and the bright and cheery style of it all that he didn't seem to mind as much as he felt he should. His feet on the floor, he slowly stood, feeling the strain in his legs as he struggled not to shake. He took his time walking around the bed and to the tall window he'd been looking out of previously. He stood in front of it with it's long red and gold trimmed curtains that were pined open with matching gold rope ties, the same as the other two windows along the wall. He ran a hand over the thick velvet and was for some reason tempted to undo the ties that held them open, and it wasn't to do with the little light that was left to come in through the windows, either. Pitch took a step back, looking through the glass to the snowfall outside. He wanted to close the curtains and hide himself away from it, and yet, he couldn't bring himself to look away and let it go.  
He stood there a little longer, staring sorrowfully outside, until finally he reached for the end of the gold rope to his right. He was about to pull it undone, when the sound of the door behind him opening stopped him as he turned around to see the Sandman, standing in the doorway with Bunnymund not far behind. Pitch breathed out a shaky breath, letting his hand fall to his side, momentarily forgetting the ties and the curtains and what lay behind the glass panes that he wanted to cover.

"Where do you want me?" The Sandman pointed to one of the plush chairs by the fireplace, and Pitch moved to it without questioning anything else. His mind once again feeling blank; as he found he currently wanted it to. Sandy walked over cautiously, before sitting in the chair opposite the solemn man. Pitch didn't look the smaller man in the eyes, instead choosing to stare at the left armrest of his foe's chair. Bunny had shut the door and was now stood infront of it with his arms crossed, as he silently watched the two carefully.  
Everything that Pitch had said or done, Bunnymund had told the others, warning Sandy of Pitch's distrust and fear. As well as the possibility that his powers were possibly no longer his to control.  
The Sandman began to sign things out to Pitch, but he didn't seem to be looking at him; even when Sandy waved at him with the hand Pitch seemed to be staring at, the man didn't respond, looking tired and dazed.

"Pitch. Hey, Pitch?"

"Hmm?" Pitch looked over to his left at the large rabbit.

"Sandy's... asking ya ta hold out a hand."

"Oh, r-right." Pitch's cheeks reddened with a faint pink of embarrassment, shocking Sandy a little as Pitch eventually looked up at him, his head slightly bowed in a shy manner. Slowly he held out his light grey hand towards the other, who copied the movement just as cautiously, more worried of scaring Pitch than anything else.  
Sandy had to agree that Pitch didn't seem like his normal self. He was originally sceptical of what Bunny had said about him, but was quickly changing his mind.  
As his hand hovered over the larger grey one, he was tempted to actually take a hold of it even though it wasn't needed, just to see what reaction that would get. But he held back knowing that wouldn't be fair with what Pitch had been through, thinking an unanticipated touch from someone he seemed to be afraid of may spark an unwanted and painful memory, possibly sending the wounded man into a panic. Pitch already looked worried enough as it was without the contact.  
Pitch was now staring just above golden hair, waiting for any instruction he may otherwise miss... again. Which was good, because the smaller man began to spell out with symbols and letters about what he would now do.

_"I'm going to try and feel for your powers, it should only take a minute. Don't worry if my sand touches you or circles you, it's just me searching for your power. I promise that's all it is. Okay?"_ Pitch gulped, nodding uncertainly, then looked over at Bunnymund, presumably for some form of reassurance. Bunny gave a short nod as agreement with what Sandy had said and Pitch eventually looked the said man in the eyes. Sandy took note on how golden Pith's eyes currently looked in that moment. Different to the usual silver with a hint of gold, that would have the viewer question if the golden tint was due to reflection of light or if that was their actual colour, they were now a bright gold colour like Sanderson himself.

"Okay." Pitch said, sounding a little more sure than he felt and probably looked. The Sandman nodded back, giving a small comforting smile before closing his eyes. Pitch watched as the smile slowly turned in to a curious frown. Golden sand began flowing off of Sandy in small wisps that circled around their hands, before gaining size and also circling the shadow man's body. Pitch stayed stock still from fear of any touching his skin, as if it would burn him; but kept his eyes on Sanderson's increasingly confused looking face, his eyes now scrunched shut in concentration.  
And then they opened, wide and shocked as the golden man jumped to his feet on the seat he'd been sat on. Slowly he puled his hand to his side as the sand around them disappeared. Pitch had already quickly pulled his away, startled from the sudden movement.  
"W-what is it?" Sandy began to sign too quickly for him to understand.  
"Slow down! I can't tell what you're saying..!" Bunny walked closer to them, also confused at his friend's reaction and unable to follow the quick pace of the sand above his head. Sandy stopped, still staring over at Pitch as he took a few deep breaths, before signing something a lot shorter and slower than he had just before.

_"Who, are, you?"_ Both Pitch and Bunny stared at him with confusion.

"What are you talking about? You know who I am, I'm Pitch Black." Sandy shook his head slowly, looking over at Bunny then back to Pitch.

_"No, you're different. You're not the same. Like a twin, you look like him, you're similar, but inside is different..."_ Pitch blinked a couple of times, his face blank, then looked back to Bunny and whispered.

"...Is he on something?..." Bunny snorted, holding back laughter as Sandy crossed his arms and taped his foot, unimpressed. They both looked back to him and he continued.

_"I'm being serious here!"_ Hopping down off of his seat he stood in front of Pitch, the man sinking further in to his chair in response as if to keep distance. _  
"The powers and energies belonging to 'Pitch Black', are not attached to you in any way. They're just not there."_ He pointed at Pitch, who was once again rather worried, his expression one of shock.  
_"How can you be Pitch Black, if what makes him the enemy we once fought, does not exist within you?"_ Pitch looked away, his brow creased.

"If I'm not Pitch Black then who else could I be?" He felt a light tap on his knee and turned his head back again.

_"You told Bunny you remember things; things you didn't know before. Things you weren't sure were even real, yes?"_ Hesitating a little, Pitch nodded slowly.  
_"Do you remember a name? Think a little; a name that might just be... yours?"_

"W-why would some fucked up thoughts born from fever dreams and bad experience mean anything? Non of that's real!" His breathing was picking up pace as he griped the armrests of his chair, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

_"If non of that's real then you should not be real because without those powers, if you are Pitch Black, then you should be dead!"_

"Stop this..!"

_"Those powers are what make Pitch Black who he is; the Boogieman, the Nightmare King, the personification of children's fears; Pitch Black is those powers and those powers are him..."_

"Stop it!"Gripping his hair in fists at the side of his head he doubled over, still reluctantly looking at Sandy through shaggy hair and blurred vision.

"Sandy..."

"I am real! I'm right here in front of you, speaking to you; you can see me! I know you hate me more than anyone, but don't try to make me think I don't exist..! I exist... "

_"You exist, but you're not who you_ think _you are..."_

"Stop!"

"Sandy, I think that's enough."

_"You_ were _the Boogieman, you_ were _the Nightmare King; you_ were _Pitch Black. But now, it appears you are who you were before that power. I think the Pitch Black we knew died not too long ago, and I think we both know who killed him."_ Pitch could only see blurry shapes now, and he realised it was because his eyes were filled with tears that had now started their way down his reddened cheeks. He hid his face in his knees, and faintly heard Bunny talk to Sandy in an angered tone.  
He tried to block everything out from that point, letting fresh tears soke into the pants he wore.  
He stayed like this until he felt something touch his shoulder. He jumped at it but only curled in on himself even more.

"Pitch... Hey, it's okay. He's gone now; told him he shouldn't speak to ya like that n' he left so ya could calm down. ...He said sorry; think he gets that that wasn't right t'say like that." Pitch didn't respond, and Bunny scratched his head, feeling bad.  
"And... I'm sorry too. Told ya it would be alright, and I guess it's not." There was still no response, but he supposed he was listening to him as the grip the man had on his hair loosened, as if what he'd said had calmed him down a little. Bunny reached out a paw and gently petted the mess of black hair, sitting next to the chair and waiting.  
After a few minutes, Pitch lifted himself into a hunched over sitting position. If there was one moment he had to choose to say the man looked nothing like 'Pitch Black the Nightmare King', It was certainly now. With the shaggy mess of hair, Golden eyes that shone with tears that still fell down his blushing face with it's otherwise olive/grey colour, a sad pleading expression and his casual attire, it was hard to see him being the same man. But Bunny wasn't going to say that to him, especially now. Instead, he did something he probably shouldn't, and pulled the man into a hug. He felt him tense up, but then relax a little, his forehead coming to rest on Bunny's shoulder.

"...I... I do remember a name." he started quietly, and Bunny listened as he held him gently.  
"But it doesn't matter now... Because that man and his world died millennia ago. The Sandman says I'm him but that's not true. My experiences as the Boogieman and as your enemy shaped me to be far different to him. I am Pitch Black, because there's nothing else left for me to be. ...I've lived this life as Pitch Black for longer than you've been Guardians, and remember it and feel the suffering, loneliness and anger. And the love... I'm still him. I'm more him than the man I was before. So I am Pitch Black. If I'm not, then all those memories and all that time and suffering means nothing. I'm still the same man, just... a little more as well. You believe me, don't you?" Pitch lifted his head and Bunny looked him in the eyes; those incredibly beautiful golden eyes.

"Of course." Pitch was right. Sandy might have been right in a way, but the now seemingly lighter and kinder changed heart of this ancient spirit was still, as said spirit had just said, more Pitch Black than whoever he was all those millions of year ago. He shouldn't be forced to be someone other than who he felt he was. As he said, who else did he have left to be? And why should he go back to such an old and possibly tormented, possibly even more so than now, self, that had to have died before the Guardians ever came to be. Bunny wasn't sure how Pitch's powers had worked, how he got them or how it managed to affect him in the way Sandy made it seem. But it was obvious now that it was due to them, possibly them alone, that he'd ever been an enemy or threat; and it seemed a great possibility, that that's why _Jack_ now was.

"I love him you know; Jack. I still do. What he did, it's not the real him..." It was as if Pitch had read his mind, and it took a moment for Bunny to answer.

"... Yeah. I know." Bunny nodded and Pitch actually smiled at him. It was small and his cheeks were still damp from tears, but it was a true smile non the less. He then looked away and Bunny moved from the hug, standing.

"Do you... know of any books I might enjoy here? I don't feel like sleeping and I've not much else to do. If you could bring me one or two I would be thankful for the distraction."

"Sure, I'll see what's in North's library."

"... Thank you." Pitch looked up at him, but only for a second before he looked back down again.  
"For everything."

"Ya welcome." Bunny replied, smiling a little, before turning to leave for the library.  
Pitch looked up to watch the door close as Bunny left the room. He used the soft sleeve of his jumper to wipe at his damp face, and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly and shakily.  
He'd let one of his worst enemies _hug him_ ; he really wasn't himself, he thought. He may feel a little differently about things and be reacting differently than what was known as his usual, from having regained memories that became clearer and realer by the minute as well as feeling as if something like heavy fog had left his mind, but the reason he let that hug happen was solely because he was desperate and vulnerable. And it pained him to admit it to himself. It had felt wrong, but at the same time it was distracting and oddly comforting. A replacement for the only person for whom he actually craved such contact...  
He stayed in his seat for a few minutes, staring at his socks and digging nails in to his hands, before he stood up, making his way back over to the window by the side of his bed.  
And then, there was a loud bang.  
He turned on his heels, staring at the door in shock. He could hear a rising commotion alongside the sounds of braking glass, and he swore he could feel the floor shaking as if large objects were falling, vibrating the building as they impacted the ground. His heart felt as though it might break through his chest and he could no longer tell the difference between the shaking floor and his own trembling body. And with his quick breathing, came small puffs of mist that quickly became denser, and he realised the room had become much colder. He turned slowly back towards the window, it's curtains still tied open, letting him see outside. Letting him see a floating figure amongst the snow storm that raged far stronger than before.  
It was Jack.  
He couldn't move, only stare on as he got closer; but the once kind boy he loved so much didn't get close enough to open the window. He stopped a little over an arms reach away, staring in on him with a fake kindness in his eyes and a sickeningly sweet smile on his thin lips. Pitch couldn't tell if he was scared to see Jack or if he was happy to see him. The thought of him getting closer brought out the fear of being hurt again, but also the need to hold and be held by the one he loved so dearly. He blinked back tears, and got closer to the glass pain, never looking away from Jack's bright silver eyes. He was just floating there, staring back at him, a darkened staff in hand. Why wasn't he doing anything?  
He could still hear banging and crashing, along with the distressed sound of shouting, coming from other places in the Workshop; but Jack Frost floated there, watching him. Yet he wasn't trying to come in and get to Pitch.  
Was it that he couldn't, or did he just not want to..? Ether way, he knew the real Jack who loved him back was still in there, he had to be. Maybe even aware of everything but unable to control himself. If Jack still wanted him, Pitch couldn't just leave him, could he? To force him in to solitude, to be despised and alone, lost in his new dark way of thinking, unable to be any other way, just like it had been for Pitch himself...  
Pitch placed his hand on the glass pane as he pondered his options, and Jack responded to it by holding out a hand as if to ask him to take it. Pitch's heart fell at the new look in his eyes as he did that. Jack looked sad, maybe even a little scared, his smile wavering; as if worries of rejection and hate towards him were climbing there way in to his mind; or more accurately, clawing their way out of a cage _in_ his mind.  
He couldn't take it; this was his own fault so how could he leave Jack to suffer through this on his own? How could he dare even think it an option to run from him? He loved him more than anything, for best or for worst. So, with his other hand he reached for the handle to open the window. But just as his fingers came in to contact with the gold plated metal, the door to his room slammed open.  
Surprised, he looked behind himself; it was Bunnymund, eyes wide and blood down the side of his face.

"Pitch, don't!" In that moment his fingers twitched on the handle, threatening to move away, to not let Jack get to him and close the curtains instead as he had intended earlier. But instead, he looked back to Jack who hadn't taken his eyes off of him, hand still held out, waiting for him. Pitch's fingers curled around the handle and Bunny shouted to him once again.  
"Don't open the window! He can't get inside unless ya open an entrance for 'im! We found a protection spell ta put around the Workshop, so ya safe here, Pitch. He can send the wind ta break things as much as he wants but _he_ can't get in unless ya let 'im. Follow me, okay? There's a safe room that I ca-"

"No. It's okay... Besides Jack is were I belong."

"Pitch..."

"I want to go back. I have to do this."

"No, no ya don't..! Stay with us, we can help. We can keep ya safe!"

"Even if you can, who will help _him_? I can't have him be hated and alone when this is my fault. How cruel would it be of me to let my lover suffer that solitude, when I know exactly what it's like to be alone with only shadows and Fearlings for company... He needs me. And, I need him."

"D'ya need him ta rape n' beat ya whenever he feels like it?!" Pitch flinched at this, and Bunny hoped he might be getting through to him. Then he noticed something in what Pitch had said.  
"Wait.. did ya just say ... _Fearlings_..?"

"So you've heard of them then..." Bunny's fur stood on end, shaken from hearing someone talk of those ancient monsters as if they actually _existed_.

"But... they're just old stories. Even if they _were_ real they were destroyed millions of years ago..!"

"hmm... What a nice though that is. Is that what's written in whatever book you read about them in? I wish it were true. But according to these old memories I've regained, I'm afraid we all failed that task. Myself in particular..."

"You..?"

"My old name; perhaps not but, I think you may already know it? Then again with how long it has been and how stories get warped I may not even be mentioned..."

"Y-you can't be..."

"Can't be who? E. Aster Bunnymund, the _last Pooka_?" Bunny's eyes widened; how did Pitch know that?  
"I'm remembering so much, and it keeps getting clearer and clearer... It's really all real, isn't it..." Pitch stated to himself more than questioned, and smiled an odd broken smile.  
Bunnymund's lips trembled as he remembered a name, but found it hard to say, as it was hard to imagine that legendary man and Pitch, who he'd fought in the past, being one and the same.

"...Koz... Kozmotis, Pitchiner?" And yet it seemed to fit perfectly. The things Pitch had said, the way he looked, the powers that had now betrayed him. Even his current name.

"I have to- I have to go now."

"No, wait!"

"Thank you, but goodbye." Pitch suddenly pulled the window open, and Bunny was nearly thrown back by the cold wind that flew in to the room.  
Jack's smile looked warm in contrast to how cold the air that smoothed against Pitch's skin and ruffled his hair felt, and he smiled back; taking the boy's hand without any further hesitation.  
Bunny had run over and tried to grab him, but just missed his ankle as Jack pulled him outside.  
Snow swirled around the two of them alongside shadow, as Jack lovingly and possessively pulled the willing Pitch in to his arms, until they were completely concealed by the blackened snow.  
Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, the shadows fell and the snow dispersed.  
The storm calmed, the sounds of breaking glass, shouting and crashing stone all came to a halt.  
The lovers, were gone.  
But this was far from the end.  
The chaos of their story had only just begun...

* * *

End of vol.1

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Coming in 2018, vol.2, love in the shadows (placed before vol.1 and may be the shortest volume).
> 
> -Coming after vol.2 will be vol.3, the last part of the series, possibly the longest, and placed after both previous volumes.
> 
> I hope you like this last chapter to this first volume of the now 3 volume story!  
> I had some trouble figuring out what i wanted to do exactly, so it took me a long while to get this out, and I'm not one-hundred percent happy with it, but happy enough. I hope It's well enough explained while still keeping a little mystery?  
> As you may have noticed I've decided to mix a little of the book's law into this story (but sometimes with my own twist on things). As in for the Fearlings, and Bunny being the last Pooka, nether of which are mentioned in the film universe as far as I am aware. Though I've not read any of the books myself, I have a little knowledge of them from research and other fanfics that I've read.
> 
> Also if you'd like to know why Bunny is suddenly so easily caring and kind to Pitch compared to before, he's 'suffering' from the 'Florence Nightingale effect'.
> 
> I'd love to know what you all think, so please do leave a comment!  
> And thanks so much for your support and for reading!


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